
Glass_L2i-Al-_^ 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 



BY 

JAMES BRUCE 

President Association of Eastern College Newspapers 
AND 

J. VINCENT FORRESTAL 

Chairman Daily Princetonian 



1914 



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INTRODUCTION 

College journalism rounded out its first century in this country 
with the unnoticed centenary of the Dartmouth "Gazette" which 
appeared in 1800 and had Webster for a contributor. It is one 
hundred and twenty-nine years since George Canning in 1785, 
at the age of 15, began at Eton the journalism of the student 
by the publication of "The Microcosm." A dozen years later, 
the group which began with him and passed through Christ 
Church in his company, added the "Anti-Jacobin" to English 
literature, the work of young men in their mid-twenties, writing 
in the college spirit of parody, echo, verse and satire. 

In the century and a third through which, first in England and 
then in this country, the periodical publications of the undergrad- 
uate have drawn to their pages every writing man in college, 
their issue has gone through forty years of fugitive serials, which 
lasted for a few weeks or months, and a period of another forty 
years of monthlies, following the magazine and quarterly — still 
the type of English college journalism and surviving here in a 
number of colleges. 

For the past forty to forty-five years, the American college 
journalist has steadily turned to the newspaper as his model. 
Whether issued monthly, fortnightly, weekly, semi-weekly or 
daily, almost every American institution has to-day a paper which 
reflects in form, in purpose, in plan, in contents, in writing and 
in organization, the daily newspaper. In the microcosm of col- 
lege, it fills the same field, it discharges the same functions and has 
the same representative character as the American daily in the 
microcosm of our cities. These papers express the student-body 
more completely and more accurately than any other organ. 
They both form and lead student opinion. The closeness with 
which they are read by teacher and taught is a sufficient proof that 
they cannot be neglected. Like all human institutions, they 
could, doubtless, be improved. They are the subject of a daily 
criticism which is the best possible proof of daily attention. But 
they remain, year after year, attracting to their pages the same 



4 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

type of college student, the goal of ambition perpetually renewed, 
the brief scene of recurring effort to reward, to improve, to in- 
spire and to lead college life. 

Exactly as the newspaper absorbs many who would pass on 
into literature, so college journalism draws to its rapid writing, 
its daily utterance and its laborious toil, many who in the earlier 
days of undergraduate periodicals would, like Canning and 
Frere, have turned to the authors and not to the editors of their 
day, for their models; but this does not lessen the value of our 
college papers to our colleges. They were never more than to- 
day, the open windows through which the world sees the college 
world. The personal responsibility of those who conduct these 
papers was never more strongly felt and never, I believe, more 
honestly or honorably discharged. Trying they sometimes may 
be to those in authority, but so all good newspapers have been 
since Caesar seized the management of the Acta Diurna and 
Sapor beheaded a scribe. This volume of selections is but one of 
a number of like collections which have gathered the spirit of 
publications whose files are so infrequently complete, and whose 
study is still to come. Every such volume makes it the easier 
to see what these periodicals are. They unite the college world, 
they keep in touch students and institutions, they give our college 
education a common atmosphere, common aims and a common 
and wholesome readiness to challenge what is, .to demand the 
better and to desire the best. 

Talcott Williams. 

March 23, 191 4. 

School of Journalism, 
CoLUMHiA University. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 
WRITING AND EDITING OF NEWS 

PAGE 

Preface ' i 

The Writing of News ^3 

Copy-Reading and Head Writing i6 

Make-up and Proof Reading I9 

Standard Types of News 21 

EDITORIALS 

Preface 29 

Swan Song of 1912-13 Sun Rnard 31 

The New Year 33 

Worshipping The Idol 34 

Compulsory Chapel 36 

Slang 38 

Our Brazen Critics 39 

College Friendship 40 

Organization of Non-Athletic Activities 41 

Fraternity Rushing 42 

College Journalism 44 

A Suggestion for the Curriculum 47 

Walter Scott Richards 48 

The College "Bad Man" 49 

Loyalty 50 

The No-Treat System in Drinking 51 

Wise Men and Fools 52 

Splendidly Null 53 

The Griad 54 

Thou Cynic ! • • • • 55 

Scattering One's Energies 56 

The College Kidder 57 

The Cosmopolitan 58 

Secrecy Among the Honored 59 

Crowding Out the Bohemian 60 

You and I to Blame 61 

Some Defects of the Curriculum 63 

Compulsory Chapel 65 

Overloading Student Leaders 66 

Acquaintance Through Competition 67 

Football 68 

On the Unproductiveness of Certain Individuals 70 

5 



6 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

The Mediocre Man 71 

A Shadow of St-v-r 72 

A Formula for Fame jz 

Undergraduate Scholars 74 

The Instructor Who Failed 76 

Professor Richardson yy 

Looking Forward 78 

The Morris Chair Habit 79 

Our Ignorance 80 

To Read or Not to Read 81 

Where It Is Quiet 82 

Rugby 83 

Too Busy 84 

The New Sphere for College Men 85 

Welcome, Scholastics ! 86 

The Drink Question 87 

Beginnings 89 

The Art of Lecturing 90 

The Plugger 92 

The Fraternity Choice 93 

The New Dances 94 

Professor Axson's Resignation 95 

Social Service 96 

The Grind 97 

The Diabolical Idiocy of Final Examinations 98 

Tulane Men, Is It True ? 99 

A News Competition 100 

On the Polo Club loi 

-The Business of Scholarship 102 

What Has He Done ? 103 

Eligibility 104 

Honor in Examinations 105 

What Will Be Done? 106 

Library Clock Philosophy 107 

The One Year Rule 108 

Forethought 109 

Our Opposition to Athletics no 

In Which We Point Out Two Pitfalls 1 12 

He Claimed to Be God 113 

Status of Technical Courses 114 

Freshman Caps 115 

The Right Idea 116 

Morpheus in Class 117 

Castles that Fall 118 

A Field for Reform 119 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 7 

Drinking 120 

Athletic Paternalism 121 

A New Esprit de Corps 122 

Confessing Faiths 123 

Financial Efficiency 124 

Our Answer 126 

The Value of Tradition 127 

Traditions vs. Institutions 128 

From Out the East 128 

For the Numbers Came 129 

-A Plea for Greater Student Democracy 130 

The Preceptorial System 131 

The Outer World 134 

From the Sphinx 135 

In Memoriam 135 

Some Trite Comments on College in General 136 

The Anatomy of Melancholy 138 

Social Clubs 139 

An Honest-to-God Widow 140 

The Modern Mania 141 

Keeping Out of Mischief 142 

More Honored in the Breach 143 

Query 145 

Wake Up 146 

The College Drunk 147 

College Spirit 148 

The Home Stretch 149 

Private Reading 1 50 

Barnyard Regime 151 

Think It Over 1 52 

What Is An Amateur 153 

Tattered Aristocracy 153 

NEWSPAPER EDITORIALS 

Newspaper Editorials 154 

General William F. Bartlett 154 

Is There a Santa Claus ? 155 

Aristocracy of Brains and Character 156 

To Editorial Writers — Adopt Ruskin's Main Idea 158 



WRITING AND EDITING OF NEWS 



PREFACE 

Conformity to type is the affliction of the average college 
newspaper; it is this standardization that does more than any- 
thing else to make the college paper uninteresting even to the 
students who are directly concerned in the activities it reports. 
In the following pages, the point most emphasized is the neces- 
sity of getting away from this dullness, characteristic of most 
undergraduate publications. 

Ever since undergraduates conceived the idea of publishing a 
newspaper which should be peculiarly their own, college news 
has been written in much the same fashion. Succeeding genera- 
tions of candidates have read the literary achievements of their 
fathers in the files of the college paper and have modelled their 
style accordingly. There may be something of exaggeration in 
that — certainly, there have been improvements of late years, in 
a good many instances ; but the fact remains that the tendency 
of the college paper is toward monotonous repetition of the 
same subjects, handled in the same way. 

The college newspaper, at its best, is subject to transitory in- 
fluences, and the degree of its excellence must vary as its editors 
change from year to year. There is however, a very real op- 
portunity for service, despite this handicap. If a paper has any 
excuse for existing, it has no excuse for inefficiency or slovenli- 
ness. And this is certain — that, whatever effort may be expended 
in the formulation of new ideas and methods on a college paper 
will be doubly rewarded in the training secured — a training that 
must, inevitably, reflect its value in after-life. 



THE WRITING OF NEWS 

General — Mr. Charles R. Williams, editor of the Indianapolis 
Nezvs, in the style-book which he prepared for the use of his 
reporters, writes: "The qualities most to be desired and striven 
for in newspaper writing are accuracy of statement — in small 
things as well as in great, in particulars as well as in essentials — 
simplicity, directness, accuracy and point. Never attempt fine 
writing for the sake of fine writing; never use big words where 
small words are possible. Go right to the heart of the subject 
without flourish of trumpets or introduction. Stop when the 
story is told without conclusion or moral or tag." 

The above statement summarizes the art of news writing 
and, although it was intended for the reporters of a city daily, 
it is just as applicable to the men who do the reporting of college 
news. "Simplicity, directness, accuracy and point" epitomize the 
style needed in college newspapers ; all other things are valueless 
if these essentials are lacking. 

Preparation of Copy — Candidates should be careful in the 
preparation of copy. Write on one side of the paper and use 
a wide space between lines ; typewritten copy, because it is 
easier for both the editors and linotype operators, is much to 
be preferred. There should be a generous margin at the top 
of the first page of copy for a head, which is written by the 
editors, and not by the candidate. Use wide paragraph indenta- 
tions and paragraph frequently. No paragraph should exceed one 
hundred words ; the average length is seventy-five words. Take 
pains that your writing, if you do not use a typewriter, is legible ; 
do not write over words or figures — always scratch out and re- 
write. Print out unusual words and all proper names carefully. 
If you wish to make an insert in your copy, mark the proper 
place "insert" and similarly mark the copy which you wish in- 
serted. Read your entire story over carefully before you hand 
it in to the desk. Make sure, particularly, that your proper 
names are correctly spelled, that there are no omissions and 
that your facts have been told clearly. 
Conciseness — Too much emphasis cannot be laid on the im- 

13 



14 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

portance of conciseness and simplicity in writing for college 
newspapers. The average student has neither the time nor the 
inclination to wade through long, involved sentences, or to de- 
termine the meaning of ohscure constructions. A news story will 
tell itself if it is set down without literary ornamentation ; it is 
not necessary to seek for oddness of expression — the best story 
is that which is written in a simple, straightforward style. Long 
words are to be avoided, unless they are indispensable to the 
effect of the sentence; the short word is usually more expressive. 

The Use of Slang — Slang of the kind which is supposed to be 
characteristic of sporting journals has no place in a college paper. 
As a matter of fact, slang is rarely used even in city newspapers ; 
plain English is just as effective and often much more easily under- 
stood. Technical sporting terms, of course, are not barred — 
there are certain terms which must be used in the description of a 
football or baseball game. But "pilfering second" and "scooting 
around the bags" are neither necessary nor attractive. 

Triteness of Expression— Trite phrases are the worst offenders 
in college journalism. Common-place, bromidic observations upon 
athletics and other college activities fill the average paper — the 
reason usually being that candidates model their writing upon 
what they have observed to be the standard in the files of the 
paper for past years. A visiting athletic team invariably is "an 
unusually strong organization, with a well-balanced scoring 
machine"; a football game invariably is "fast and hard-fought" 
and concerts by the college musical clubs always provoke the 
comment that they "were well-rendered and received hearty 
applause." This kind of writing deadens a paper to the point 
of dullness ; it can be avoided by candidates who will confine 
their statements to facts. It is not necessary to say that a visit- 
ing team is exceptionally capable merely for the sake of the story ; 
it will be just as interesting to college men to know that the team 
is exceptionally poor. All college athletic events are not interest- 
ing — some are exceedingly tiresome. If a game is poorly played 
and lacking in features, say so; if you know that your college's 
opponents in a particular athletic event has had a poor record, 
put the fact in your story. Above all things, do not read the 
files of your paper solely to copy the style used in the past. If 
you try to imitate that style, you will deaden your own and be- 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 15 

come the victim of innumerable hackneyed phrases which have 
long since been ridden to death. 

Accuracy — Accuracy is the essential of any newspaper, 
whether a college publication or not. Without it, the paper 
has no reason for existing. The first lesson a candidate has 
to learn, therefore, is that the facts of his story must be absolutely 
correct before he hands in copy to the desk. News is worthless 
if it is not truthful ; a paper's prestige depends upon its repu- 
tation for accuracy of statement. No candidate can hope for 
success who refuses to make sure of even the smallest details 
of the news he has been assigned to write. Names, class numerals 
and addresses are just as important as the larger facts of the 
story. If a man has more than one initial, use them all ; if several 
men in college have the same name, make sure that you distin- 
guish between them, both as to their initials and their class 
numerals. You cannot be too careful, make sure of that. 

Style — It cannot be repeated too frequently that simplicity is 
the most important element of style. It is more difficult to write 
clear, accurate newspaper English than it is to write an essay. 
Good writing can best be learned by careful observation of 
the style used in such newspapers as the Nezv York Sun, the 
New York Evening Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Springfield 
Republican and papers of similar standing. The following rules 
may be laid down for every candidate : 

Crowd the main facts of your story into the first paragraph 
and let the other facts follow in logical sequence. 

Let your story, so far as possible, tell itself. 

Try to develop a plain, straightforward style, without em- 
bellishments. 

Above all, be concise and make your statements to the point. 
This does not necessitate writing in short, choppy sentences ; 
it means that your sentences should never be awkward and 
cumbersome. 

Learn to think about what you are writing. Submit every sen- 
tence to the test of reason ; make sure that your statements are 
logical. 

Form the habit of visualizing your ideas before you set them 
down. Plan your story before you start to write ; group your 
facts in their natural order and make sure that you follow that 
order. 



COPY-READING AND HEAD-WRITING 

Copy-reading — Of all the tasks that come within the scope of 
an editor's duties, the most important is that of copy-reading. 
In the last analysis, this is the art of sensing the fitness of things 
— taking for granted the editor has a working knowledge of 
grammatical construction and of the minor essentials of diction. 
A college paper, like the daily newspaper, can never be a model 
of pure English ; it is put together more or less hastily and 
time is lacking in which to re-write all the undesirable material 
contributed by candidates. Its editors, however, can do much 
to eliminate the more glaring violations of good usage. 

Reading copy is not a mechanical process ; it is not sufficient 
to go through a story merely to correct grammatical errors. Each 
story must be read as it will appear to the reader and the general 
tone of its diction carefully observed. This is one of the chief 
difficulties confronting the editor who is as yet untrained in his 
work; it is almost impossible for him to see each story as it will 
look in print. There is a vast difference between news as it seems 
on first reading and as it looks in the type ; constructions that are 
awkward and unwieldly are likely to be overlooked in the eager- 
ness to secure grammatical perfection ; diction that is mechani- 
cally correct and yet obviously cumbersome is often passed by un- 
scathed. The only method of overcoming this fault is by in- 
telligent study of good newspaper style. 

The man who reads copy on any paper must have a knowl- 
edge of the essentials of style, if his work is to be at all suc- 
cessful. To acquire this knowledge, he must eliminate from his 
own writing the more common errors. His place as copy-reader 
demands an even greater knowledge of the technique of good 
writing than was necessary for him as a candidate, or reporter. 
It is one thing to recognize faulty diction and a wordy style; 
it requires ability of a different kind to make the changes which 
will transform an indifferently-written story into a readable one. 
The awkwardness and turgidity of a beginner's English are ap- 
parent to almost anyone ; but it is only the trained man who can 
point out wherein lies the weakness. This analytic quality is 

i6 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 17 

absolutely necessary to a copy-reader. College professors of 
English acquire it from their work in the classroom; under- 
graduates on college papers will not be able, of course, to read 
copy with the accuracy of a college professor of English, for 
the adequate reason that they have not had an identical training. 
They can give efficient service, however, with comparatively 
short training. 

In the preceding chapter, clarity and conciseness were laid 
down as the principles of good news writing. These are even more 
important for the copy editor, who frequently finds it necessary 
to rebuild and strengthen a story and who is not able, because 
of lack of time, to re-write the entire story. The copy-reader 
must be able to consider the "construction of paragraphs and sen- 
tences, the choice of words and figures. Each paragraph should 
have an attractive beginning that will catch the reader's eye in 
rapid reading. Close connection should be maintained between 
the sentences in the paragraph. The copy-reader must transform 
the weak, rambling sentence into a firm, coherent statement with 
an emphatic beginning. For the trite, colorless word or phrase, 
he must substitute the fresh, picturesque one. The too figura- 
tive flights of exuberant fancy in one young reporter's fancy 
must be toned down, and the bald, prosaic narrative or descrip- 
tion in another is given life and interest. In short, the copy- 
reader's work is constructive as well as critical ; it is as important 
for him to rewrite and rearrange as to cut out and boil down."* 

Head-writing — Head-writing is one of the most difficult of 
the new tasks which a man just starting his work on a college 
paper has to learn. The extreme difficulty lies not in the composi- 
tion of suitable headings for news stories, but in confining those 
headings to the space allowed by the width of the newspaper 
column. It is annoying to discover that the mechanical restrictions 
which have made thirteen "ems" the limit of a column, elimi- 
nates what one has developed as an attractive caption. The head- 
writer with a normal fund of synonyms, however, is soon able 
to overcome this difficulty and to adapt his ideas to the exigencies 
of the situation. 

* From "Newspaper Writing and Editing,'' by Willard Grosvenor 
Bleyer of the University of Wisconsin School of Journalism. 



i8 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

Once the meclianical method of writing heads has been mas- 
tered, it remains for the copy-reader to develop the faculty of 
making the heads he writes tell the main facts of the story over 
which they are placed. Study of the city papers is the best train- 
ing in securing this ability. A casual analysis of the heads in 
any issue of a metropolitan newspaper will show that every cap- 
tion tells fairly completely the story which follows it; that the 
heads bring out the biggest facts clearly and briefly. The head- 
writer on a college paper rarely has to write captions for stories 
of exceptional sensation, so his task is limited to a comparatively 
narrow field. 

The function of a head is to outline the news. Different papers 
have varying styles of heads, but the one essential of any head is 
that it shall bring out facts of the story following. Its top lines 
should tell the most important feature in a brief sentence. This 
part of the head should contain at least one verb; it should be 
written with short words, if possible. Adjectives are entirely un- 
desirable and adverbs should be limited to those which are 
absolutely necessary to the sense of the head. The succeeding 
decks under the main head should elaborate upon the facts of 
the story. Verbs, being the most expressive, should be preferred 
and there should be a minimum of adjectives. "The" should 
be used no oftener than necessary, for it weakens a sentence. 

Tense should never be changed in a head ; the tense used in the 
first two or three lines of the head is usually the present, and this 
should be followed through the lower decks or pyramids. 
Change of tense makes the head ambiguous, besides being gram- 
matically incorrect. 

The main deck or "drop-line" part of a head should never 
have a hyphenated word from line to line. The following is an 
example of this error: 

BASKETBALL FIVE SUS- 
TAINS FIRST DEFEAT 

Slang, unless it has been dignified by good usage to some 
extent, should never be used in a head. Whatever has been said 
in regard to the use of slang in news stories may be applied also 
to head-writing. 



MAKE-UP AND PROOF-READING 

The editors of a college paper usually have a comparatively 
small field of variety in making-up or composing their news- 
paper; for, as a rule, the smallness of the paper is a handicap 
which prevents the use of any of the tricks of make-up which are 
within the province of the newspaper desk man. The average 
college paper is one of five columns — and attractive, varied make- 
ups in five columns are difficult of achievement. Those papers 
which are fortunate enough to use six columns offer greater op- 
portunities to editors, and there is less trouble in getting out a 
first page which has some resemblance to the make-up of a city 
paper. Because of the handicaps mentioned, it is impossible to 
lay down any definite rules for the mechanical composition of a 
college journal; the conditions under which it is printed deter- 
mine, almost entirely, the way in which the paper can be made 
up and the extent to which its editors can make it conform to 
newspaper good taste. 

News of a sensational character rarely comes to the desk of a 
college paper ; so that there is little occasion for the use of 
spread-heads. Most of the news that is printed is a normal re- 
port of the daily activities of the college. The only task for the 
make-up editor, therefore, is to arrange his news so that it will 
be displayed to the best advantage and so that the paper will be 
uniform. It is a truism that the important stories should be given 
the larger headings and that the news of lesser value should have 
smaller captions. Yet, too many college papers allow the size of 
the story, rather than its importance to determine the kind of head 
which is to be placed over it. It is not always true that the facts 
told in a column are more important than those told in a half- 
column. 

The arrangement of the important and less important news 
stories is related to symmetry as well as to news-values. The 
make-up editor should strive to have his first page attractive in 
its general appearance. To accomplish this, he should make 
sure that the heads on the first page balance as much as possible, 

19 



20 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

There should be a minimum of short one- and two-paragraph 
stories at the bottom of the columns ; if possible the stories should 
be so gauged as to fill exactly the columns in which they are 
placed. Stories which are more than a column should be "broken 
over" into an inside page and not allowed to run into part of 
the adjoining column on the first page. 

The make-up editor should use a "dummy" for the guidance 
of the printer. A "dummy" is a graphical representation of each 
page of the paper, with the places assigned to each story marked 
upon it. The "dummy" also is useful in determining the space 
to be filled and the amount of space which can be allotted to the 
several kinds of news. 

The college editor, as a rule, has to determine rather accurately 
the number of words to be printed in his paper. This can best 
be done by approximating the number of words to an inch of 
printed matter and then totalling the number of inches in the 
paper. A short experience in making up will soon make it easy 
for the editor to estimate the space which is available for news 
and also to gauge, with a degree of accuracy, the space a 
certain story will occupy, without stopping to calculate it 
mathematically. 



STANDARD TYPES OF NEWS 

There are certain kinds of news which are standard for almost 
every college paper ; the most frequent are preliminary stories on 
important athletic events and descriptions of football and base- 
ball games. There is a tendency toward a set style for this type 
of news and both candidates and editors grow into the habit of 
following the banalities and bromides of former years. It has 
been said before that slang is not desirable in any kind of writ- 
ing, whether it be of athletic events or not ; so that slang as a 
remedy is eliminated at the start. As a matter of fact, however, 
slang is not necessary to make a story attractive. Athletic news 
can be written in conformity to the rules of good usage and at 
the same time can be kept from becoming stilted or hackneyed. 
The following description from The Daily Princetonian of the 
Yale-Harvard football game of 1913, illustrates this : 



There have been great games of 
football between Harvard and Yale 
in the past, but few of them ever 
measured up to the struggle in the 
Stadium last Saturday. Anyone who 
would get an accurate idea of what 
kind of football it was must forget 
the score, for 15 to 5 is the criterion 
of the diflference between having a 
Brickley on a team and not having 
one, rather than of the relative abil- 
ity of the Harvard and Yale elevens 
as units. Had not that greatest of 
intercollegiate kickers been in the 
Harvard lineup, the glory of the 
Crimson sunset might have been dim- 
med, to say the least; and those in- 
significant two points that Yale cor- 
nered when O'Brien casually stepped 
back across his own goal line might 
have played a very important part 
in the football championship of 1913. 

Brickley Unbeatable 

But Brickley was tliere — in more 
senses than one — and he showed once 
more the tremendous handicap that 
any opposing team labors under 
when it attempts to cope with his 



wizardry. No human power can pre- 
vent an eleven from winning, when 
that eleven has in its lineup a man who 
can be depended upon to score every 
time he gets within tihe forty-five 
yard limit. The Harvard eleven was 
simply unbeatable on Saturday, but it 
was unbeatable almost solely because 
of the genius of its great fullback. 

But, forgetting Brickley and the 
final score, it was one of the greatest 
games ever played in the Stadium; 
Yale was not beaten until the last 
field goal had been sent spinning 
over the bar, for up to that time, there 
was always a good chance that Wil- 
son or Ainsworth might get away and 
tie the score. They never did — 
Brickley and Mahan took care of that 
— but they made some attempts that 
kept the Crimson partisans on the 
edges of their seats. 

Yale Had Not Slumped 

Yale had lost nothing in the week 
after its desiperately-played tie with 
Princeton; there was evidence of the 
same fighting line which stopped the 
Tiger backs so effectively, at New 



22 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 



Haven last Saturday. The Blue for- 
wards did not hold Harvard as they 
held Princeton, hut they came up to 
scratch in the crises and were invinc- 
ible when the Crimson got within 
the twenty-five yard line. Little good 
that did, though — for when Mahan's 
swooping dashes and Bricklcy's low, 
bull-like rushes failed, Logan simply 
sent Rrickley back and that capable 
individual promptly sent the ball be- 
tween the uprights as non-commit- 
tally as though he were pouring at a 
Back Bay tea instead of bringing a 
football championship to his college. 
There were other individual stars, 
too, and they loomed up large, even 
in spite of Brickley. Wilson carried 
the ball as well as he did against 
Princeton, and he made none of those 
errors of judgment which marred his 
play in that game. Ainsworth was 
spectacular a week ago, but he was 
even better against Harvard. He 
stuck close to his interference and 
got away for a couple of long runs 
around the end. 

Marting a Great Center 

One man, however, stood out above 
all the rest on the Yale team. He 
was Marting, the big center. Marting 
was in every play in the line and 
tackled all over the field; his passing 
was almost perfect. Ketcham, who has 
been All-American center for two 
years, played beside him, but was 
hardly in a class with this most rec- 
ent of Yale stars. Harvard's backs 
will be a long time forgetting how 
hard Marting tackles. 

For Harvard, the change that put 
Hardwick at end instead of halfback, 
proved entirely salutary. He missed 
Wilson once or twice and was boxed 
once so that Ainsworth got past safe- 
ly, but these slips were few and far 
between. At other times, Hardwick 
went after his man with deadly cer- 
tainty and once within striking dis- 
tance of the runner never failed to 
l)ring him down. Dana, a substitute, 
played a star game at the other end 
and ran well with the ball. The Har- 
vard wings, on the whole, were far 
superior to those of Yale. Oilman, 
who played guard, a position new to 



him, showed much more ability than 
h.^^ did against Princeton and bore the 
brunt of the defence in the Crimson 
line. 

Great Crimson Backiield 

It was, however, not the line but 
the backfield which won for Harvard. 
And in the backfield, Mahan and 
Brickley stood head and shoulders 
above the others. The former punted 
better than he has done all season and 
ran back kicks with the same dazzling 
success that marked his play in 
Princeton. He was by all odds the 
best open field runner of the day; the 
Yale ends were almost helpless 
against his remarkable ability to twist 
away from a group of tacklers. Ma- 
han is a great player and his star is 
still in the ascendant — he will be 
dreaded almost as much as Brickley 
next fall. As for Brickley himself, 
no other comment is necessary than 
that his name was practically synony- 
mous with Harvard Saturday. 

As a game of foot'>all, it was the 
good old style, with lots of rough 
work thrown in. The few forward 
passes tried by each team failed, and 
it was evident from the first that it 
was to be a kicking duel. 

Dropkicking won 

One thing has been proved this 
year — and at no time as conclusively 
as on Saturday: no team can score 
a touchdown against anything like a 
team of equal strength by straight 
rushing. Neither Harvard, Yale nor 
Princeton could show a running at- 
tack worthy of the name within the 
25-yard line, although it is possible 
that Harvard might have been able 
to pierce the Yale defense, had Brick- 
ley mot been av^ilalvlle. Of these 
three Eastern teams, Harvard showed 
the best attack. But, at that, the fact 
remains that football to-day is de- 
pendent upon dropkicking, and the 
team with the l)est kicker wins. This 
year, that team is Harvard and so 
another championship goes to Cam- 
bridge; only, they are celebrating 
more than a mere victory up there 
just now. A hoodoo has been killed 
— Yale has been beaten in the 
Stadium. 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 



23 



Preliminary stories on football and baseball games need not 
be confined to the much-used statements in regard to the "strength 
of the visiting team" and the "Varsity's excellent record." The 
preliminaries which follow are taken from The Daily Prince- 
toiiian and The Cornell Sun. They vary agreeably from the set 
standard of such stories. 



From the Daily Princetonian 

The day of the Yale game has come. 
The Princeton team will close its 
season this afternoon under the eyes 
of some thirty thousand people who, 
every two years, pack the stands 
around Yale Field to see these two 
great rivals settle the question of 
football supremacy between them. 
Princeton has held the upper hand 
for two years, with a victory and a 
tie game, but there is a long string 
of Yale victories yet to be effaced be- 
fore the two teams will be even. 

The majority of football critics pick 
Princeton to win, which is in itself 
a bad sign, for they have been proved 
wrong in three consecutive years. In 
1910, Princeton was a heavy favorite 
and lost, 5 to 3. The next year Yale 
v/as looked upon as an easy winner; 
but Sam White ipicked up a lose ball 
and upset every prophecy. Last year 
they said Flynn would tear through 
the Princeton line at will and Yale 
would win; instead. Flynn never was 
able to get started against the fast- 
charging Varsity line — an unknown 
halfback stepped into the breach and 
saved the game for Yale with a forty- 
five yard dropkick. Therefore, we 
hesitate to rejoice very heartily over 
the forecast for the game. A change 
of weather, a blocked kick, a fumble 
— those are the things that win foot- 
ball games, not the prophecies of the 
newspaper writers. 

Yale Lineup Unknown 

A discussion of the Yale team, 
player by player, is impossible be- 
cause no one outside of the Yale 
coaching staff knows just what the 
composition of the Blue team will be. 
There has heen a shake-up every 
week, each of which has involved 
Captain Ketcham; Ketcham has play- 



ed this season at center, guard, de- 
fensive fullback and end, besides go- 
ing back for punts and kick-offs. He 
is the keystone of the team and the 
line-up depends on where he will play. 
The backfield is fairly well settled, 
however, and is said to be a strong 
one, although it includes only one vet- 
eran, Dunn, who will be remembered 
as the man who fumbled the ball 
which Sam White picked up in 1911. 
Knowles is a first-class punter, prob- 
ably the equal of Law, but his repu- 
tation as a kicker of field goals is by 
no means as great as Baker's. There 
is a likelihood, though, that Pumpelly 
will be in shape to kici: if t'ct oppor- 
tunity is given. The ends have given 
the coaches a lot of worry, but one, 
at least, should give a good account 
of himself; that is Avery, a veteran 
of two years' standing. Talbott is a 
good tackle but he will need to be, 
for Phillips is a hard man to take 
care of. Warren or Pendleton will be 
up against Ballin and it goes without 
saying that either one will have his 
hands full. Ketcham and Cooney seem 
to be the choices for guards and Mart- 
ing for center. They are all exper- 
ienced men and form the strongest 
part of the Yale team. 

Records Favor Princeton 

The records of the two teams in 
their early games offer small grounds 
for conjecture as to what they may 
do at the close of the season. A 
team which is developed slowly is 
likely to be far steadier in the crucial 
games than one which has reached 
top form by the middle of the season. 
Both Yale and Princeton have been 
tardy in development this year, Yale 
in particular having been slow to get 
under way. After the showing which 
each made last Saturday, however, 



24 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 



there is every reason to believe that 
tlie two teams which will line up 
on Yale field this afternoon will be 
at the height of their power. 

Yale has won five games, tied two 
and lost one, rolling up ii8 points 
to her opponents' i6. Princeton has 
won six games and lost two, with a 
total of 1/6 points to opponents' i8. 
Unquestionably, Princeton's schedule 
has been much the harder of the two, 
and the defeats have been administer- 
ed by Harvard and Dartmouth, the 
two teams which are generally con- 
ceded the premier place in the East. 
On the other hand Yale has been 
scored upon in but one game, when 
the giant Colgate machine tore up the 
Blue defense and piled up a total of 
i6 points. In every other game, 
Yale's defense has been well up to re- 
quirements, although until the Brown 
game, there were evidences of great 
v/eakness in attack. 

Blue Hampered by Injuries 

It must be remembered that Yale 
has been more handicapped by in- 
juries this season than any big team in 
recent years; most of the cripples, 
though, are back in the line-up now 
and Yale will show her full strength 
to-day. At best it is an untried team 
that will take the field against Prince- 
ton — a team which has great possi- 
bilities, but nothing more. Yale 
teams have been made in a week be- 
f|0re, and it may have been done 
again this year, but the coaches have 
rarely had such a long way to go. 

Yale has yet given no evidences of a 
strength which could successfully 
stand up against a team playing the 
way Princeton did against Harvard 
a week ago, but it must also be re- 



membered that "Yale is always Yale," 
and anything is possible in football. 
Two great questions will be answered 
this afternoon — how much has Yale 
improved, and can Princeton play as 
well to-day as a week ago? On these 
two answers hang victory or defeat. 

From the Cornell Sun 
Promptly at 2 p. m. the first of the 
big athletic events of Navy Day starts 
v/hen Cornell faces Yale on the dia- 
mond. On the issue of to-day's con- 
test depends the standing of the red 
and white aggregation in the final 
choice for the so-called intercolle- 
giate baseball championship of the 
East. 

So many surprises have occurred 
to date in the results of games with 
teams that early in the season were 
almost universally conceded to be in 
the first rank of the running for the 
title, that almost everything depends 
oi! the five or six big matches yet to 
be played. One of these is to-day's 
struggle on Percy Field. On the 
event of the Yale-Cornell, the Prince- 
ton-Yale, and the Yale-Harvard set- 
tos, and the several games yet to be 
played by Pennsylvania, Williams, 
Amherst, and Brown, hangs the tale. 
To-day's battle will go far toward 
giving the dopesters a definite line on 
how the final round-up will stand. 

Coach Co'Ogan is still uncertain as 
to who will pitch for the Varsity. 
Either Nisbet or Hightower will 
twirl, and McCormick will receive. 
The rest of the line-up remains un- 
changed, except that the position of 
right field is still undetermined, 
either Mahoney or Thomas being 
scheduled to fill in here. 



The following story from The Cornell Sun is an example of 
a well-written account of a baseball game. Because of the fact 
that the Sumlay newspapers already had told the story of the 
contest, which was a fourteen-inning struggle between Yale and 
Cornell in 191 1, the play is not described in detail. Nevertheless, 
the happenings that were the features of the game and the 
notable incidents are summarized in a comparatively brief story 
which is both concise and interesting. 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 



25 



From the Cornell Sun 
In a fourteen-inning struggle, 
marked by frequent hitting and num- 
erous cleverly executed plays, Cor- 
nell wrested a hard fought victory 
from the sons of Eli last Saturday on 
Percy Field. In the ninth inning with 
the score 5 to 2 in favor of the home 
team, Yale started a rally in the prov- 
erabial bull dog spirit and before the 
Ithacan rooters who were fast begin- 
ning to tile out of the stands for the 
observation train, had recovered from 
the surprise, Yale had landed on the 
ball for five safe hits, netting three 
runs and tying the score, 5 to 5. 

O'Connell played a sensational 
game for Cornell. In the thirteenth, 
with the bases full and none out, he 
gathered in Badger's long fly to deep 
center making a beautiful throw to 
McCormick and catching Reilly as he 
slid for home; and in the final period, 
his timely clout to center brought 
Hightower across the plate for the 
run that won the game. 

Butler started the hitting in the 
second, with a clean grounder over 
second. Mahoney got to first on 
Reilley's error, advancing Butler, 
Dauenhauer sacrificed, and Butler 
came home when Burdett muffed the 
left fielder's throw-in of Howard's 

fly- . , 

Yale scored their first run in the 
third, when Freeman rounded the 
bases on a pass, Corey's two-bagger 
and Badger's fly to right. In the 
fourth, Mahoney and Dauenhauer 



scored on two' well placed singles, 
forced leases from a free pass to Mc- 
Cormick and a wild throw from 
pitcher to first base, Freeman field- 
ing Nisbet's easy bounder and throw- 
ing a foot over Reilley's head. Dauen- 
hauer and Howard scored again in 
the sixth on Yale's errors and Cor- 
nell's hitting. 

In the eighth. Badger tallied for 
the Blue, and in the ninth the Elis 
landed on Nisbet for three safe hits, 
with none out, and Reilly scored. 
Hightower was sent in to replace 
Nisbet but another safe crack to cen- 
ter by Stevens scored both Badger 
and McGhie. From now on till the 
last half of the fourteenth when with 
two out and two strikes called, O'Con- 
nell's drive brought in Hightower 
and ended the game, neither side was 
able to bring in the necessarv run. 



Summary 



Cornell 
Magner s. s. 
Clute, lb. 
O'Connell, r.f. 
Butler, l.f. 
Mahoney, r.f. 
Dauenhauer, 2b. 
McCormick, c. 
Howard 3b. 
Nisbet, p. 
Hightower, p. 



♦Batted for Scott 



Yale 
Corey, r.f. 
Badger, c.f. 
Gross, l.f. 
Stevens, l.f. 
Bennett, 2b. 
Stillwell, s.s. 
Burdett, c. 
Carhart, c. 
Merritt, 3b. 
Reilly, ib. 
Scott, p. 
S. Freeman, p. 
♦McGhie 
in the ninth. 



EDITORIALS 



PREFACE 

A want of conviction, disseminated through a series of long, 
involved, and often poorly constructed sentences, is the salient 
characteristic of the majority of editorials that appear daily in 
the various college newspapers. The weary editor, firmly con- 
vinced that he must personify the expression of public opinion, 
tries to be all things to all people, and usually succeeds in having 
no influence over any of them. Editorials are stereotyped, hack- 
neyed and commonplace, when, by their very nature, they should 
be teeming with the vitality and vigor of youth. Premature old 
age, accompanied by the dread of having a self-conceived dignity 
ruffled by adverse criticism, compels the average editor along the 
popular line of least resistance. Instead of becoming a leader, 
he remains a lamb in medias res; consequently, his editorials lack 
force. 

The cleverness with which the college editorial writer straddles 
the fence on all debatable questions, is very impressive. He 
reserves himself semi-dormant at the apex of conventionality : 
welcomes students back, issues bromidic sermons to freshmen, 
holds up the poor grind to scorn and ridicule, moralizes upon the 
waste of time, etc., and so rants on in a well-oiled groove, day 
after day for a year, taking the small things seriously and the 
serious things not at all. Only occasionally does he rise in his 
wrath to champion the faculty-ridden undergraduates against 
a dictum of the mysterious divinities who are arbitrarily shaping 
their ends ; or, maybe, to vent his spleen in reprimanding an 
unlucky group of culprits who have committed a breach of re- 
spectability. The average editor religiously avoids taking sides 
on or precipitating any issue that might possibly throw the 
college community into a state of agitation or unrest. He fears 
that his hastily-formed judgment might, in the last analysis, be 
wrong, and that his paper might lose prestige. The pursuance of 
such a policy produces two eflfects : undergraduates stop reading 
the editorials and the paper's influence becomes negative. The 
editor should always take a bold and firm stand; the editorial 
column will then attract attention, discussions will ensue, and, 
whether the conclusions of the editor are right or wrong, he will 

20 



30 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

Start men thinking, ilis aim should be to stir up thought, not to 
play hide and seek with public opinion. Colleges are too prone to 
be temperate beds of conservatism. Unrest is a symptom of 
progress. The United States has been in a state of unrest ever 
since and long before 1492. If the college does not reflect the 
nation and fit men for life in the nation, it does not fulfill its 
purpose. 

Put old institutions to the test of reason ; question mildewed 
conventions ; suggest revisions in the curriculum and in the official 
regulations ; avoid pessimism, while showing that the best can 
both be retained and attained. You will be thoroughly damned 
for your trouble, but you will render a great service to your 
university. 

Effectiveness of assertion is synonymous with style in editorial 
writing. The editor who has nothing to assert has no style ; the 
editor who has a central idea and who states it in good plain 
English will find that the power of style will accompany his con- 
victions to the end. Write and re-write ; read and re-read ; 
study industriously the world's best literature. Do not for 
a moment believe that your election to the Board has converted 
you into such a paragon of the pen that, like the Irishman who 
knew Latin from Alpha to the Omega, you may cast books aside 
as superfluous. Express yourself audaciously. Omit unneces- 
sary sentences. Make your editorials short but full of substance. 
Give them the vigor and freedom from restraint that attracts. 
You will drive your point home more successfully than if your 
style is labored. Curtail apologies for existence and bundles of 
dryasdust platitudes ; forget that you may make mistakes ; be orig- 
inal and take some chances with the editorial column ; a display 
of life and initiative on the part of the editors alone can force 
college newspapers to spring into advanced positions of leadership. 

The editorials that follow are in no sense to be taken as 
models of excellence. A few of them are splendid, the majority 
mediocre, and some of them poor. But they all express diflferent 
ideas, and, taken in toto, are trully representative of American 
colleges. They portray the work of the present generation of 
college journalists, and are published that the next generation 
may see and learn and improve accordingly. 



THE SWAN-SONG OF THE 1912-13 SUN BOARD 

"The end erozvns all, and that old common arbitrator, time, will 
otic day end it." — Shakespeare. 

Running a bank, taking a jaunt up into the Arctic, serving time 
in one of those places where they stop you if you try to get 
out, and directing the poHcies of a college daily, have all one 
thing in common. That is that, sooner or later, there must be 
an end. There is an end to the 1912-13 Sun Board. The 1912-13 
Sun Board is through. 

It is with no hypocritical protestations of deep sorrow, keen 
regret, and the like, that we at length lay down the oars. We are 
through, and what's more, we are glad of it. 

But with the joyful sense of freedom at release from the more 
or less burdensome responsibilities of our post, there assail us 
small compunctions, slight prickings of the conscience, when we 
look back upon the year : "we have done those things which we 
ought not to have done, and we have left undone those things 
which we ought to have done," and we wonder whether, after 
all, we have given of the best of us to the work which has so long 
been ours. 

In a motley, shifting phantasmagoria there come rushing into 
memory the erst departed ghosts of the problems that are past, 
as well the problems that are present. Your indulgence but an 
instant as we roughly recapitulate the more salient of the ques- 
tions that for twelve month past have stirred the student mind : 
fraternity "rushing"; upperclass advisers for freshmen; the re- 
vival of the inter-scholastic track meet; the perennial football 
problem ; the local street-railway facilities ; underground com- 
mitteeships; the "no-treat" system; the student ballot; the awak- 
ening of the C. L. C. A. ; the "Class Book"-"Cornellian" merger ; 
lower admission rates to athletic contests ; the rearrangement of 
Senior Week ; the Penn State football controversy ; better fresh- 
man football schedules; the College of Forestry; the Star Thea- 

31 



32 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

tre disturbances; a Central Employment Bureau for Q)rnell; 
cheerleading ; the latest tragedy on Cayuga Lake ; the Agricultural 
honor system. 

These and a host of other questions have claimed the part 
attention of the undergraduate world. New problems will arise 
as the old are solved. The more the better. Even internal dis- 
sension is to be preferred to stagnation and undisturbed repose. 

In its attitude toward and treatment of the questions that have 
emerged from out the dead level of complacency and self-con- 
tent, The Sun has endeavored always to be fair. Mistakes have 
been made, some of them serious, some of them not. For these, 
large and small, we are sincerely sorry. But in honest recogni- 
tion of our faults we find consolation in the words of Mr. Way- 
land : "The only people who make no mistakes are dead people. 
I saw a man last week who has not made a mistake in four 
thousand years. He was a mummy in the Egyptian department 
of the British Museum." 

Whatever stand we may have taken has been taken honestly. 
In a constant endeavor to reflect the correct undergraduate point 
of view we have borne in mind always that the editorial chair 
i« no place for the wabbler. "Newspapers must take sides. 
There can be no such thing as a neutral newspaper. Every other 
man in the community may conceal his opinion and even his action 
behind the screen of the voting booth, but the editor must come 
out and take a side." 

And, so, pursuing this policy, antagonisms have been aroused, 
resentments incurred. We are sorry, and then again we are glad. 
It will be a dismal day indeed for Cornell when everyone comes 
to think alike. Healthful difference of opinion, honestly har- 
bored and honorably maintained, is good. It is what keeps the 
blood circulating in the body politic. Independent thought and 
judgment unconstrained are great and desirable qualities. They 
are to be encouraged. We may all, however divergent be our 
views, say truthfully with Stevenson : "Other men may be right ; 
but so, before heaven, are we." Or we may, if so we choose, say 
with Rousseau : "If I am not better than other men, at least 
I am different." 

And so we retire as gracefully as may be into the oblivion 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 33 

shared by thirty-two boards of years gone by. Much there is 
that must be done. The scheme of things, social and corporeal, 
at Cornell, is yet far from faultless. To the incoming board, we 
relinquish the reins of office, gladly, fearlessly, knowing full well 
that they will manfully carry on the work that remains to do. — 
Cornell Sun. 



THE NEW YEAR 

The 191 3- 1 4 Sun Board assumes control of The Sun for the 
coming year with this issue. 

Our first duty and pleasure is to give recognition to the outgoing 
board for the work it has done and the results it has accomplished. 
No one will begrudge to it the honor of having been at the head 
of what many men have told us has been the best Sun ever 
published. During its sway, The Sun has increased over 40 per 
cent in size, has become a member of the Associated Press, and 
has approached nearer and nearer to its ideal — a real newspaper. 
Its editorial column has continued to exert a powerful influence 
for good, many evils have felt its power and many reforms have 
been originated and carried to fruition by the force of public 
sentiment it has represented. Taken all in all, the outgoing board 
has led The Sun through a banner year. 

In looking forward to the new year, the 1913-14 Board refuses 
to make any high-sounding prognostications. Its highest aim and 
aspiration will be to give to its increasing roll of readers a con- 
stantly better edited, newsier, more accurate, more alive news- 
paper. Its editorial policy will be to mirror University sentiment 
as well as possible and to direct it into the best channels. It will, 
from time to time, make suggestions, urge changes, commend 
some actions, and condemn others. It disclaims at the beginning 
any idea of doing the thinking for the University ; it merely hopes, 
by showing a little thinking itself, to make its readers think, and 
thus accomplish its results. When our readers get into the habit 
of at least glancing at the "column" every day for fear they may 
miss something, we shall consider we are succeeding. — Cornell 
Sun. 



WORSHIPPING THE IDOL 

Williams men are not all bootlicks. Yet many undergrad- 
uates here conceive Public Opinion as an idol before which they 
must remain prostrate. Through three or perhaps four years 
of their college existence, — we hesitate to call it "life" — they 
keep their ear close to the ground to catch the slightest murmer 
of criticism. They do what the crowd does, think what the 
crowd thinks, and voice only such opinions as the crowd will find 
palatable. 

When many men enter Williams, they become obsessed with 
a terror of "getting in wrong." They cautiously conform to 
the opinion of the student public, attempting to make themselves 
a Williams type. The bargain they make is lamentably poor: 
they sell their independence for the approbation of their fellows. 
In less radical cases, they merely extinguish any individual trait 
which might grate on the comnumily at large. In extreme cases, 
they become chameleon-like persons who adapt themselves to 
their companions of the moment. They follow, not their incli- 
nation, ])ut the course which they think will meet with popular 
approval. They never drink too much, for fear of being called 
drunkards, 'i'hey never refuse a drink, for fear of being called 
milksops. 

Idol worshipi)ers are not rare in Williams. What causes the 
adoration of the fetich? The provincialism of a small college 
begets an overi)owering interest in one's neighbor's business. 
"Knocking" becomes prevalent. A man feels that he cannot 
achieve success unless he escapes criticism, that is, unless he 
conforms strictly to Public Opinion. To win ephemeral distinc- 
tion, he barters his individuality. 

We do not presume to attack the institution of Public Opinion. 
Within certain bonds, it is a great and good force. It safeguards 
valuable traditions and customs. It prevents the hasty discarding 
of the fruits of experience. Yet it can be, and is, carried al- 
together too far, — carried to extremes which are both ludicrous 
and harmful. 

34 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 35 

Man, we arc told, is endowed with certain inalienable rights. 
Among these we should include, — restricting them to reasonable 
limits, — the privilege of wearing such clothes as he pleases, of 
decorating his face with whatsoever expression his spirit wills, 
and forming whatever opinions his nature determines. Shall 
we ostracize a man for the cut of his coat, which departs a trifle 
from the normal Williams garments, or for his three-inch smile, 
which varies two centimeters from the conventional Williams 
expression ? 

A more broad-minded attitude towards one's associates, a 
smaller amount of trivial criticism directed against individuality, 
and less fervent worship of the demigod, Public Opinion, would 
make life at Williams far more wholesome, free and uncon- 
strained. — The JViliiams Record. 



TECH MEN AS SPEAKERS 

The three prime requisites of a successful engineer are a 
thorough knowledge of his profession, the ability to handle the 
men under him, and the power to reach the men above him, — 
to talk to them and convince them that he is right. The first of 
these the Technology graduate is assumed to have ; the second 
comes only through actual experience ; the third, while also a 
matter of experience, is one which should be cultivated now. 

The municipal engineer must often appear before various 
boards, councils, etc., and defend his plans. The man working 
for a corporation faces the same problem in the board of directors. 
They all have to be convinced, and to do this one must be a good 
talker, not as a conversationalist, but as a public speaker. How 
many of us can get up now before a class of twenty men and put 
forth a convincing argument? 

We have here, as a third-year option, a course in Public 
Speaking. It is a small course ; very few men choose it. Is it 
not worthy of more notice ? Have we not more need for it than 
this small enrollment would indicate? A considerable fund has 
just been left Cornell to further this very cau.se. If it merits 
that much consideration there, why not more here? — The Tech, 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 



COMPULSORY CHAPEL 

Compulsory chapel at Dartmouth is as old as the College itself, 
and in its long existence has been closely related to the life of the 
College and typified much of its best. But there is little more 
concern with the original significance of compulsory chapel than 
with the original purpose of the College itself, which was, to 
quote its charter, "the education and instruction of the youth of 
the Indian Tribes" in the "Province of New Hampshire." To-day 
both chapel and College are the developments of ideas, and as 
institutions are to be judged not by ancient purpose but by their 
place in present life. 

The fact, therefore, that compulsory chapel began as a re- 
ligious observance is worthy of consideration only as it tends to 
shape opinion of chapel to-day. And as such it is worthy of much 
attention, for it tends to deceive. Chapel was founded amidst 
Puritan rigor, when compulsory church was as common as bread 
and butter. Community opinion supported it. Since then, how- 
ever, vast changes have occurred, but compulsory chapel as an 
institution has not accommodated itself to its new environment. 
Gibralter-like, it has stood fast, and now presumes a public tol- 
erance which no longer exists. As a religious observance, com- 
pulsory chapel is to-day as indefensible as compulsory churdi, and 
reliance upon traditional environment should not serve as a blind 
to this fact. 

Beneficial as either church or chapel may be, as religious insti- 
tutions they cease to have value with the addition of compulsion^ 
for there is no morality in coercion. Compelling a man to be 
better is only making him worse. Teaching religion with the rod 
is breeding rebellion. A true expression of religious feeling can 
only be voluntary ; it must represent the inclination of the in- 
dividual. When such expression is required or forced, the insti- 
tution which makes the demand is not religious but disciplinary. 

Although chapel is compulsory, however, not all men are de- 
prived of its benefits. Manv men would undoubtedly attend 

"36 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 2,7 

chapel if presence were voluntary, and to such compulsory chapel 
may be of religious satisfaction, a result not due, however, to 
compulsion, but to volition. Thus it is not the intention here in 
any way to deny the value of voluntary chapel, but merely to 
protest against a show of religion which is false or forced, as 
created by compulsory chapel. 

The results of compulsory attendance at a service considered 
religious are but natural. Although it may cultivate in a few 
a desire to attend, its influence on many men is negative. If 
through four years of undergraduate life, a man has been forced 
to chapel, and to him chapel is one with church, he will probably 
later become a most indifferent church attendant. Where before 
may have been apathy, compulsory chapel has bred opposition. 
Such results are not merely theoretical ; they may be found in the 
attitude held to-day in the student body. 

Logically, therefore, compulsory chapel cannot be justified by 
the reasons commonly urged : that it is of religious benefit, and of 
disciplinary value. To have religious significance, it must be vol- 
untary ; to have disciplinary value, it must be compulsory ; but it 
cannot be both at once. As long as chapel is compulsory, there- 
fore, it should be recognized as what it is, a disciplinary institu- 
tion. As such it may be as valuable as the classroom. It may 
instruct; it may stir thought; it may train to regularity; but when 
compulsory, it must be regarded not as religious but secular. — 
The Dartmouth. 



SLANG 

It has been growing increasingly noticeable, that the average 
undergraduate at Toronto is unable to express himself satisfac- 
torily in the King's English. Slang is becoming more and more 
prevalent, and those addicted to it find themselves unable to make 
their meaning clear without it. There is little doubt that to this 
carelessness of language in common speech is due the inability 
of the average man to speak fluently in public, where correct- 
ness is necessary, and also the paucity of language and lack of 
vigour of expression apparent in most of the writing done about 
the University. It seems to be generally considered pedantic 
to be correct in common speech. The use of good English, 
when there is a slang equivalent, is rather laughed at ; and a new 
and catchy slang phrase is hailed with delight. As a general rule, 
these phrases are far from being any improvement upon those 
they supersede. Their greatest recommendation is that they 
are new. It is a great pity that such should be the case, but 
there is no doubt about it. The result, as we said, is only too 
apparent in our public speaking. Have we not all heard the 
undergraduate orator check suddenly, with a slang phrase at 
the tip of his tongue, cast about a moment for the correct 
English, and finally resort to lame and altogether inadequate 
language, correct enough, but absolutely lacking the vigor of 
spontaneity? Would not the common use of English, instead 
of a poor substitute for it, go far to eradicate this? Who has 
not often been asked by a budding essayist, the proper words 
to express an idea which he can only convey by means of slang? 
And have we not often been at a loss ourselves, and in the 
same predicament? 

We pass over mere colloquial inaccuracies, such as split in- 
finitives — though they are bad enough, and only too common. 
It is the actual misuse of words, to which we refer; the twisting 
of their meanings so that their mother — the language — fails to 
recognize them. The habit is far too common in the Varsity. 
We do not mean to imply that it is not common elsewhere; it 
undoubtedly is. But it is most to be deplored here, where we 

38 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 39 

have advantages not possessed by the majority, and where 
purity and correctness of diction are naturally to be expected. 

The worst of the habit — as with most bad habits — is its effect. 
Lack of fluency and vigour in speaking, lack of precision and force 
in writing, are its natural consequences. We close by the use of 
slang the very benefits which a University course is most calcu- 
lated to give us. To be able to get facility in writing and speak- 
ing, the undergraduate will have to be very much more careful 
in his ordinary conversation. — The Varsity, University of 
Toronto. 

OUR BRAZEN CRITICS 

Ever since the dark ages when some one or other, not a priest, 
stumbled on the great truth that there were two sides to every 
question, college men have no doubt been urged to banish beer 
and frivolity from their youthful lives. From Bismarck down 
few have done so. Consequently Mr. Bok declares that college 
men are lacking in brains and courtesy. Mr. Brown claims that 
they are flabby dilettantes. Mr. Crane, that they are drunkards. 
Most Mr. Jones' and Mr. Smiths think that they are fools. 
The blight is spreading while college enrolments are increasing. 
It is certainly queer — two incompatibles living on each other. 
Probably verdant youths are coming to college these days to find 
out what strange manner of men a four years' college course 
is going to turn them into — to gather chameleon-sense. 

The truth is that there are a lot of nervous wrecks who are 
not happy unless they are trying to reform something that they 
know nothing about. Every rabid radical or grapejuice advocate 
who happens to have been running rampant long enough to be- 
lieve that he is an image of God always takes a fling at our system 
of education. It has become such a live topic that anyone who 
takes the trouble to prepare a cutting enough denunciation of 
our colleges can burst into print without the slightest difficulty. 

The consequence is that the average parent with a son eligible 
to enter a University is at a total loss as to whether college is 
worth while. And the real educators, the Presidents of the 
Universities, are at a disadvantage because they cannot compete 
with yellow press-agents. — The Daily Princetonian. 



COLLEGE FRIENDSHIP 

In a few week, and weeks that will truly belie their real length, 
several hundred seniors will receive diplomas indicating that they 
have comi)lcted their courses in the University. But to most of 
them graduation will mean far more than the mere leaving be- 
hind of four years of college work. It will mean the breaking 
away from the companionship of many friends, in most cases, 
breaking away from it forever. They will not feel it so keenly 
now; they will not realize its genuine seriousness until the next 
year rolls around and they do not return as usual to the old as- 
sociations. But those who have any sentiment whatever cannot 
help but feel the change ; it will steal over them unconsciously. 

There is nothing like friendship. A college is in a manner 
a little world all its own ; in it we have our ideals and our oppor- 
tunities ; we find our friends ; we live in a close degree of intimacy 
with them ; we learn their fads and foibles ; and sentimentally, at 
least, we are a community to ourselves. When we graduate from 
college we are closing up definitely and finally a certain chapter 
in our lives. Never again, probably, shall we experience such 
an absolute change of conditions and environment. We go out 
and make new friends, but they are not college friends. We 
may come back for more work, but we are not undergraduates, 
for when a man graduates from college he can never again be in 
spirit an undergraduate. He assumed a certain indefinite some- 
thing that is bound to be reflected in his own attitude and in the 
attitude toward him of his former college associates. He is 
no longer one of the boys; he has joined the many other dele- 
gations ahead of him to help form that general body known as 
alumni; and he individually, whether old or young, will have a 
certain sense of dignity thrust upon him, and will be shown some 
degree of the deference paid to the body of "old grads" in general. 

No, it is of no use trying to avoid it ; you, seniors, are about 
to see a break in that indefinite something which you feel and 
can't describe, and which you will feel more strongly in the 

40 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 41 

future — college friendship. If you have made the best of your 
course, you will realize this and it will have a great meaning to 
you. If you cannot realize it; if to you college has been nothing 
but books and lectures and drafting tables and test tubes and 
ammeters and machine designs ; if you have failed to find its 
sentiments and its associations, then you have not seen a vital 
part of its real meaning, you have missed one of the very best 
parts of your college course. — The Daily Illini. 



ORGANIZATION OF NON-ATHLETIC ACTIVITIES 

Slightly less than a year ago there was a drawn up and submitted 
through these columns for campus approval, a plan for the con- 
solidation of the non-athletic interests of the University into an 
association paralleling in a non-athletic field the present Athletic 
Association. An extensive procedure for organization was also 
arranged, and a constitution submitted, providing for the ratifica- 
tion of the plan by the separate clubs and publications as they 
became affiliated. This ratification took place a short while after- 
wards. The organization provided for the establishment of 
certain sinking and general funds, for the active supervision by 
a graduate manager of all contracts, budgets, etc., and for the 
harmonizing of the various activities. It is not the purpose of 
the organization to interfere with any of the policies, other than 
financial, of the allied members. It is the purpose of the new 
King's Crown, the name which it adopted, to provide a clearing 
house for the management of the constituent clubs, societies and 
publications. In this way it is hoped to obviate the many con- 
flicts between Columbia organizations that have occurred in the 
past, such as the duplication of advertising canvassing and the 
making of expenditures which operate at cross purposes. The 
advantages of the proposal are obvious. But to eflFect its opera- 
tion a graduate manager is necessary, and a graduate manager 
requires a salary. The Athletic manager was established by the 
appropriation of the manager's salary by the trustees. The plan 
is one of great importance to the students, and they are counting 
on alumni support for its passage by the trustees next fall. — 
The Columbia Spectator. 



FRATERNITY RUSHING 

One hundred and sixty-one men are announced this morning 
as pledged to the seventeen local chapters of national undergrad- 
uate fraternities. This marks the close of the formal rushing 
season. No doubt each chapter is reviewing the season, and 
feeling joyful or sad, as the case may be. This is the personal, 
the selfish view. Would it not be well for the chapters, the 
students, and the University as a whole, to review the rushing 
season, not from the standpoint of pledged, considered, or over- 
looked, but as an institution? ''Rushing." It is well named. 
The present system of securing men for fraternity chapters is 
a nerve-racking, break-neck process, its aim being to beat other 
chapters, usually with little scruple as to means employed, to 
bull-doze, persuade, hypnotize, and almost coerce freshmen into 
accepting pledges. It absorbs the time of fraternity men and 
desirable freshmen almost exclusively for the first three weeks 
of college. Such a system is radically wrong. 

What is a fraternity? What does membership in a fraternity 
mean ? From the word itself, a fraternity is a brotherhood — 
a group of congenial men, living together for their mutual benefit. 
The benefit includes maintenance of a congenial home, mutual 
help and development in studies and personality. Obviously, 
the process of recruiting new men should have this purpose in 
view. But how can men be selected on this basis in a rushing 
season? Snap judgments, based on appearance, scanty bits of 
information in answer to frantic telegrams, and perhaps a little 
more material, form the basis of selection, from the fraternity 
side. Appearance of the men and house, a general idea of 
national and campus standing, and only too often a vision 
dazzled by the display of wealth ; or coercion — a gruelling inquisi- 
tion by several older men, in a secluded room in the chapter house 
with the insistent demand ''Pledge yourself !" — form the basis of 
the freshman's choice. Almost nowhere is there the calm de- 
liberation, the thorough investigation of men and chapter by the 

42 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 43 

freshman, of man and record by the chapter, that should form 
the basis of pledging. How rare is the instance where pledging 
consists of a frank discussion, by man and chapter, of the in- 
terests of each, and whether they would be furthered by joining 
forces! Instead of this — the only fair and logical method — 
pledging, as said before, more closely resembles the third degree, 
the sweat-box — or the culmination of a carefully cultivated 
emotional state that results in an almost insane desire in the fresh- 
man to be pledged. 

Our present rushing system is a crime against freshmen and 
fraternities. Many universities have taken radical action to 
remedy this situation. Such a step should not be necessary here. 
The chapters should be enough awake to their own interests to 
see the need of reform, to institute it, and enforce it when adopted. 
The big difficulty, of course, is being sure that all chapters obey 
the rules. One or two chapters breaking the rules force the 
others to do so in self-defence. But this is no insuperable diffi- 
culty. With faculty and students cooperating and determined 
that reform shall come and come to stay, it would be a bold 
chapter that would break the rules. The practical measures to 
be taken is another question. But neither is this insuperable. The 
thing necessary now is the realization that rushing as conducted 
at present is radically wrong, to determine to do something about 
it, and then to consider what to do. At present, the Interf ratern- 
ity council is the key to the situation. It can do effective work ; 
the question is — Will it get busy? — The Daily Maroon, Uni- 
versity of Chicago. 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

Is it not a mistake to suppose that the function of a college 
paper is to do away with college grievances? When a great city 
journal seeks to do away with a public grievance it does not set 
an example for a college paper in respect to college grievances. 

A city editor pursues his course without smiting his corpora- 
tion. A college editor exposing college grievances, easily falls 
into an attitude of hostility to the authorities without whose 
existence and labors there would not be any paper for him to edit. 
In this attitude he will have his followers, unconsciously and 
unintentionally perhaps, bringing on disaffection and disloyalty to 
the institution. The paper readily gives the impression that the 
only object of its existence is to look after the interests of the 
students, as if they and the authorities were at variance. To say 
the least, this is very unfortunate. 

What then is to be done with grievances? Is there a griev- 
ance? A grievance is more or less tangible or visible, not only 
to a part of the college community but to all of it. If, however, 
one has escaped for a time the observation of the authorities, 
what better and easier way is there of bringing it to their notice 
than an interview? When a grievance remains it is not because 
the authorities are too stupid to realize it, or too indifferent to 
care for it, or too despondent to remove it ; but because, knowing 
well all about it, they are, nevertheless, powerless for some 
reason to bring on a remedy. In such a case an interview will 
let in the light. All editors need light — except some. Getting 
light is better than sticking pins. 

Again, grievances are sometimes only imaginary. It is not too 
much that in a community of scholars and gentlemen all im- 
aginary grievances can be disposed of in a quiet interview be- 
tween the parties concerned. Then the trouble is over. An 
imaginary grievance petted and pounded by an ambitious editor 
is at first a curiosity, and then a nuisance. Having taken it up, 
the editor is sometimes not only too proud to abandon it, but 

44 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 45 

also foolish enough to think that the community is greatly in- 
terested in the thing itself, whereas it has only a passing interest 
in the antics of the ''what is it" as it appears in public. The 
chances are that the editor in maintaining the position grows 
stubborn, loses his temper, and stirs up strife and bad feeling. 
Pride of opinion dies hard — especially in editors. 

Sometimes grievances are recklessly made to order. No editor 
should convert his paper into a waste-basket. A great editor 
never does. 

Surely there is a happier way of dealing with college griev- 
ances than parading them in the college paper if the object is to 
get rid of them. 

Nor is it the function of a college paper to treasure up little 
spites, flings, and personalities, whether concerning the student 
or the authorities, as reptiles are corked up in a bottle of alcohol. 
As the dead fly in the ointment, one such paragraph often gives 
to the whole paper a smell of something dead. A college paper 
should be sweet with kindly life. 

A college editor whose chief end, or any end, is to berate the 
authorities, hurt the feeling of his fellow students, and give 
publicity to private family troubles, is like one who publicly 
proclaims himself a temporary ass. And what the ass asseverates 
is known to be true. 

Is there then anything for a college editor to do? Yes, a great 
plenty. 

First, the college news is to be collected. When collected it 
should be carefully sifted. A news editor needs a good sieve. 
What a student who has the mulligrubs says about a professor 
is not news. One hardly knows what it is. If Jones hits Smith 
between the eyes, let a police record, not a college paper, catch 
it up to adorn its columns. But a diligent editor will always 
find enough interesting news about the manly contests on the 
campus, the literary efforts and intellectual conquests in class 
and hall— and through his exchanges, about the same things as 
they transpire in other colleges. College news is always interest- 
ing to college men. 

Then it is good to discuss methods of study and of spending 
time and money on the part of the boys; methods of teaching; 



46 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

comparative merits of various kinds of mental training, and of 
different systems of government ; the value of a college education ; 
short cuts to a profession ; literary ; philosophical ; technical ; his- 
torical; and religious questions without end. 

An open, manly, spirited discussion of such topics, when free 
from miserable personalities and innuendos, is always enjoyed 
by all concerned, even by those who do not accept the conclusions 
of the writer. 

Then, in an impersonal way, a college editor should take high 
ground and hold it to the end on college manners and morals. 
There is always room for reform. Calm, courteous, dignified 
editorials in this field are timely and effective always. All at- 
tempts at sarcasm and abuse are useless, calling attention away 
from the pith of the matter to the pride the editor seems to take 
in his skill in making cutting phrases, thus losing time, and wast- 
ing ink and paper. 

Especially would it be well to give earnest attention to three 
acknowledged evils, found more or less, presumably, in every 
college. It should be his high purpose to make lying odious, 
intemperance disgusting, hazing disreputable — setting forth, in 
garb most attractive, the beauty of truthfulness, the heroism of 
temperance and the virtue of treating with kindness the stranger 
within one's gates. 

We should find room also for the good things of the less serious 
side of college life. Fun and frolic, jokes and pleasantries, are 
a part of all healthy life from Homer down. We all want to 
laugh at times. A college paper should not be sober unto death 
or even unto melancholy. A college is full of laughter-producing 
substance. Let the best of it be preserved. — The Lafayette. 



A SUGGESTION FOR THE CURRICULUM 

We have courses in everything under the sun at Washing- 
ton. The student has a choice in a very few things, but he must 
learn — or to speak correctly — take a great many courses. He 
has little latitude. The rules are laid down, and if he would 
finish college with a sheepskin with which to decorate his trunk, 
he must have certain credits marked on his card. 

Why not substitute for some of the courses — we don't need 
to name them — a course that would be of benefit while in college? 
This is more than can be said of many courses that are required. 
Why not a course in university rules? It's a difficult subject. 
Ask your professor to explain some of them. Ask your instructors 
to tell you what some of them mean. Try to read them and 
understand them. You will find that apparently nobody knows 
just what the rules are or what they mean, and if there is any- 
body who really does know — he won't tell, or he was buried 
with the Caesars. 

Do you know whether you are going to graduate? Do you 
know what it means to be on probation? Do you know what to 
do to become a cum laude student, or cum something or other 
student at the end of four years? Do you know what the rule 
is about cutting classes? Or is there a rule? Do you know what 
the rule is about making up work? Have you ever come face 
to face with any of these rules? How much history or German 
are you allowed to take ? How many credits are allowed in your 
major subject? What do you know about it? We admit we are 
as ignorant as you, but we have tried to find out and not one of 
the professors we have asked seemed to know. Each instructor 
admitted he was in doubt about the meaning of certain rules. 
But he would ask some one else. 

If this is the case, why not put the rules in plain, unvarnished 
American — not English, that's too deep for us — and let the under- 
graduate in on the secret? The rule books are handed out every 
year. W^ould it not be reasonable to ask that a course in in- 

47 



48 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

struction in university rules be given ? No doubt some one could 
be found who, after a few years of study, could figure them 
out and tell us mortals what the rules are and what they mean. — 
University of Washington Daily. 



WALTER SCOTT RICHARDS 

Cayuga, grave of many a liegeman of Cornell, has claimed yet 
another victim. The yearly toll of death exacted by those treach- 
erous waters, so beautiful and yet so terrible,— has one time more 
been paid. Again a living being, in the prime of health and young 
manhood, has been sacrificed on the alter of the most lovely, 
the most fearful, the most untrustworthy of lakes. 

Peculiarly painful and distressing are the facts in the case of 
this last levy — that of Walter Scott Richards, a junior in the Arts 
College. 

In a day when more and more sensational, more and more 
widespread, are reports of the indiscretions of college men, it 
can be said of him with utter truth that he was clean. That is 
what would strike you first about him, — his absolute freshness, 
his stainless uncontamination, his innocence as of a child. Art- 
less and pure of heart as it is given to but few of us to be, he 
presented a picture of splendid, guileless youth that is all too 
seldom seen. He was the sort of man whom you would twit, 
kindly, afifectionately for that very innocence which inwardly you 
above all revere and prize. 

This boy, who has been taken from our midst so very suddenly, 
so very tragically, has left a void among us impossible to fill. 
Boys of his type, — yes, and* men too, — are too rare nowadays 
lightly to be mourned and soon forgotten. They are the kind of 
folk whose very absence makes them felt the more. 

"Dick" has gone where we can't follow, — yet awhile. The 
soul has flown but its influence remains. The spirit that domi- 
nated him in the flesh, a spirit of simple blamelessness, of kindly 
laughter, a spirit that made itself felt toward all who knew him in 
a generous, gentle, manly way, — will still persist. He was an 
honorable bov, a dutiful son, a true friend. — Cornell Sun. 



THE COLLEGE "BAD MAN" 

One of the main objects of your true university is to lop off 
dead and worthless branches, and to encourage timid sprouts. It 
should give spirit and initiative to the diffident, and should re- 
strain the impulses of the experienced. It should civilize the 
blatant type of "rah-rah" individual, just as it should make the 
petted youth more manly, and should make the "star" of the 
prep, college realize his own vast im,portance in the larger 
scale of life. Neither the apronstring youth nor the untamable 
rowdy is a desirable person to have in university life, any more 
than he would be in the larger world upon which he will have 
some day to enter. 

Many one-time curiosities have become extinct ; the mammoth, 
the western melodrama, Toronto's hopes for a New Union Sta- 
tion, the mother-in-law joke, and the hoop-skirt. But, alas ! the 
"bad man" is not yet extinct. He flourishes even as the green 
bay tree, in precisely the same way as his predecessor did at 
Padau, Heidelberg or Paris. He is to be recognized by his 
swaggering air, his painful color-scheme of garb, his ignorance 
of books and manners, and a consuming desire to be pointed out 
as "a college man." To be a bubble on the froth of fourth-rate 
"latest" fashion is his ambition. His countenance wears no 
general expression. At times it shows a look of bovine surprise 
which might almost delude one into supposing he had the 
rudiments of an intelligence. As for college work — that is a 
contradiction and paradox. To his mind, classrooms are the 
dispensable features of a university ; lectures are a painful and 
unnecessary evil ; and professors are an item of superfluous 
expense. 

Not that your "bad man" disbelieves in education. That 
requires native sense and energy. He simply neglects studies 
without debating their value. Intellectually he is a minus 
quantity. 

It is not easy to crusade against this pest. If preached to, 
he placidly falls asleej) ; if threatened, he simply marvels at the 

49 



50 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

unappreciation of mankind. Try your skill at converting (or 
trying to) one of the species. When you see him injuring prop- 
erty — even smashing dining hall doors, — or playing the boor 
before ladies (to attract their attention and to "show off"), or 
ridiculing his professor — you might suggest your opinion of the 
specimen of humanity w^ho seeks to derive honor from a col- 
lege instead of conferring the honor. Illustrate this lesson by 
reference to the disgraceful schoolboy conduct of the rowdies 
who tried to turn the recent Arts Stag Night aftermath into a free 
fight and door-smashing campaign. 

It is high time that the University "bad men" began to realize 
how they appear in the eyes of the sane world — if they have 
enough gray matter to look at the question seriously. Let them 
strive for the genuine "college spirit" — the active and sensible 
desire to bring victory and honor to one's college. Let the "bad 
man" discard prairie habits (and some would not even be toler- 
ated there!) and Bowery ideas, and get into the true twentieth 
century stride o-f self -improvement and self -advancement. — The 
Varsity, University of Toronto. 



LOYALTY 

Loyalty of the Daily men is not of the grandstand order. 
When the reporter stays up until 4 o'clock in the morning to see 
the Daily safely off the press, no one applauds. And when 
shortly afterward he lifts himself out of bed for an 8 o'clock 
class, there is no blare of bands and frenzied applause from 
assembled multitudes. Few know and the others take it as a 
matter of course. In some way this shines as a fine example of 
college spirit and loyalty. It is anonymous, and often the man 
who works the hardest never sees his name at the top of the 
paper. Credit is too often given to those "higher up." Someday, 
perhaps, the Daily will become opulent enough to make some 
return for such unselfish labor, or with the advent of an Utopian 
state of affairs in the distant future, the University may recog- 
nize the college paper as more than a toy, and give graduation 
credit for worthy efforts in the writing of its columns. — Min- 
nesota Daily. 



THE NO-TREAT SYSTEM IN DRINKING 

The Princetonian would like to see drinking in Princeton 
placed upon a sane basis. To that end the adoption of a no-treat 
system covering the use of alcholic beverages was urged in this 
column. Also the substitution of a mild vintage of wine in the 
place of beer and other liquors at the class banquets. Not that 
it is any less potent, but because it would be used in smaller 
quantities, making the class functions gentlemanly dinners and 
not parties. The latter measure would have eliminated the 
practice that has hitherto been pursued, of urging all men to show 
their class spirit by attending the banquets, and then conducting 
them in a manner that was distasteful to the majority of those 
assembled. 

The no-treat system was recommended for the sake of tem- 
perance, not prohibition. If was applicable only to those men 
who during some part of the year used alcholic beverages, 
whether in moderation or to excess. The treating system the 
Princetonian considers a great danger in any coinmunity where 
there is a large body of young men, each provided with a pe- 
cuniary independence covering all points on a scale of liberality. 
Treating gives artificial stimulus to drink, leading many a man 
to take a half dozen or so drinks when he would stop with one if 
no such practice prevailed. Invariably a man takes one drink and 
then another, because to treat the companion who has treated 
him is the thing to do. If there is a group of persons, each 
person in the group is thus compelled to take a drink on the 
invitation of every person in the group. In a group of three, 
three drinks per man, in a group of six, six drinks, etc., until 
the precedent has become so firmly established that the Lord 
only knows what will follow. Towards the end of the evening 
all may be so inflamed with drink as to go on drinking more or 
less mechanically and voluntarily. It is thus that the fatal 
seeds of excess are sown, to say nothing of the expense into 
which men are often drawn by treating when they cannot 
afford it. 

51 



52 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

The no-treat system could only be put into effect by the force 
of public opinion as registered through action of the clubs. — 
The Daily Princetonian. 

WISE MEN AND FOOLS 

Most undergraduates live on an allowance. They are taught 
to make a certain amount of money go a certain length of time. 
It is a necessary lesson and does good when it is properly learned. 
Some spend more than they are allowed. This fact alone does 
little harm. It is when they receive more money that the trouble 
starts. If the providing source was aware of how the money 
was being spent the allowance might constitute the total receipts 
until the regular time for another remittance. 

A man handles his own money when he comes to college, 
perhaps for the first time. He has an opportunity of learning the 
value of money. This knowledge will be a great asset to him in 
business later on, and he should gain it while he has a chance. 

First of all he should keep an accurate account of the money 
he spends. Just as a manufacturer wants to know the cost 
of each item in the production, so a student should know where 
his money is going and what he is getting in exchange. This 
knowledge shows him where to cut down — how to eliminate 
waste. There would be less extravagance if the spender could 
see his foolishness in figures. 

The student who has to work his way through is in at least 
one respect fortunate. He knows where every penny goes. He 
not only learns how to make money — he learns how to spend it. 
He must plan in order to live. The spending of money is to 
him a business proposition. He never invests either his energy 
or his money unless he is sure of the income. 

The big difference between the man who has to plan and the 
man who spends freely is the difference between a man wide 
awake and a man with his eyes closed. The one who under- 
stands what money is, and how it should be used, will have a 
long start on the other when they both are out in the world trying 
to run a business efficiently. 

Aside from this, the thoughtless spender never stops to con- 
sider that he. in most cases, is spending some one else's money 
without rendering an account. — The Pennsylvanian. 



SPLENDIDLY NULL 

Plain people, unaided by the supernatural, without overpower- 
ing insight, often claim to perceive what they call the "Yale 
type," over which gushing girls gently rave. Nobody ever 
describes this precious type; but everybody knows that it wears 
correct clothing, and has faultless manners and morals. It 
smiles discreetly, and silently; and sometimes it has tremendous 
dumb energy. Of this type, there are hundreds, with no more 
variation than the eggs of a hen. It is perfectly good; but is 
offensive in being utterly inoffensive. It is never wrongly enthus- 
iastic, because it is never enthusiastic. It never has heretical 
thoughts, because it never thinks. It acquires and gives forth 
ideas with all the precision of a parrot. And it has nearly the 
mental power of the original Yale Bull Dog. 

Physically, this "Yale Type" was once rather aggressive, like 
the Bull Dog. But now it is not agressive at all. It forms the 
ideals of the community; and then uses all its energy trying 
painfully to conform to itself. It has no aspirations beyond itself. 
no mental aspiration whatever. The men most typical of it have 
often acquired positions where sufficient intellect to purchase 
or sort tickets is positively required. The simple populace ob- 
serves that these captains of undergraduate industry, at the 
top of the type, use their predecessors' brains wherever possible; 
and the simple populace instantly stops thinking. The "Yale 
type" then becomes a dumb show. But it is so powerful that it 
blights or discourages even healthy originality, where a man 
has his own idea and opinions. The work in the curriculum does 
not encourage it. The type must stay prosaic and dull ; and 
where sheep-like undergraduates conform to it, they will conform 
to mental mediocrity, which this type glorifies. 

But the greatest trouble with the "Yale type" is not that it 
encourages "faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null" 
mentality, but that it is perfectly satisfied with itself. It skims 
its few pages. It struggles for its little positions and its little 
fame. It worries itself into unhappiness. It absorbs the froth 
of knowledge and gains practically no mental power whatever. 

53 



54 COLLF.GE JOURNALISM 

And every man who ccMifornis to it really thinks that he is get- 
ting the best possible education. By his complacency, and his 
laziness, every such man is dragging on the few of mind and 
purpose. And many of this pseudo- Yale-type are criticising the 
institutions of Yale, when they should be prayerfully improving 
or criticising themselves. — The Yale Nezvs. 

THE GRIND 

They call him a grind because he studies most of the day and 
night. He is not a mixer, and so does not enjoy being with the 
boys after supper. The girls laugh at him instead of with him, 
so he does not go with them. In the classroom he thinks of them 
merely as part of the natural surroundings. 

His people have always had a fixed purjjose ahead, to which 
they struggled with every atom of strength. His father has 
brought up a large family, and has had to work early and late 
to keep the children clothed and fed. His mother has always 
had the desire to learn ; but as she received little education while 
young, and has little time to read now, her desires are kept 
smoldering. But she has, by her enthusiasm, burned into the 
minds of her children the ambition to become w^ell-educated men. 

The grind used to walk several miles to the high school in 
town every day. After being graduated there, he taught school 
two years and saved every cent possible. Then he w^ent away 
to college. While there, he has done his utmost to learn his 
lessons well. 1 le will never be a great man in the money-making 
sense, but he will become a deep scholar and thus fulfill the 
ambitions of his uK^ther — his only sweetheart. His ideal is per- 
fection in learning lessons. When the examination jxipcrs come 
back, and he has made the highest grade, the other students with 
curling lip call him a grind. lUit this proof of his ability brings 
a passing gleam of happiness to the tired features of "the grind." 

He has never had an easy time, and he does not know that he 
could enjoy going to dances and shows. He does not know the 
joy of letting lessons go until examination time draws near and 
then "cramming." His only recreation is football, where he 
sees men struggling to win. 

Here's to the grind, unpopular, unlovable, but withal in deadly 
earnest ! — University Missouriaii. 



THOU CYNIC! 

Men come to college at a time when they are about to enter 
upon the cynical stage — an experience of life which everyone goes 
through sooner or later. College does not accomplish much to 
break down the cynicism they have brought to it ; it is more apt, 
in fact, to intensify their attitude. They become worshipers at 
the shrine of the god of things as they are, and they are pitiless 
scorners of the misguided few who dare to be serious. 

This of course, does not apply to every college man, but does 
not fall far short of the mark in a good many cases. In Princeton, 
to be sure, one is prone to look askance at any attempt to take 
life seriously before it becomes necessary to look elsewhere than 
to the paternal pocketbook as a source of subsistence. Sometimes, 
we cannot understand why anybody else should be in earnest 
about life when we find so much to amuse us in following other 
gods. But even the cynic must admit that the other man is 
entitled to his own point of view and to the right to mould his life 
for himself. Otherwise, there soon would be a Princeton type — 
a calamity toward which, already, we have come dangerously 
close. 

Religion always is a subject about which few men are com- 
petent to talk; and no one is competent, certainly, to judge the 
measure of sincerity in the men who choose to follow their re- 
ligion practically. Yet, in every class, there are always men who 
fondly believe they add to the gaiety of nations by mocking those 
of their classmates who visit Murray-Dodge. These are the same 
men who philosophize on the futility of scholarship, and con- 
demn, with careless freedom, those who so far depart from 
tradition as to seek a first group. Later on in college life, the 
scholars attain to a measure of respect which their cynical friends 
can never reach. Unfortunately, there can be no such concrete 
proof that the man who has chosen to be interested in religious 
work has not wasted his time. 

The modern concept of education is that it should supply men 
with the equipment to do their own thinking. It follows, then, 

SS 



56 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

that a man has a right to think for himself, so long as he does not 
trespass on the rights of others. The man who prefers his studies, 
or some other serioMS work, to the Nass and the so-called 
congenial spirits thereof, is exercising only the prerogative of 
choice. Neither the scholar nor that personage known by the 
uncertain term of "good fellow" can justly take to himself the 
privilege of imposing his own viewpoint on anybody else. If 
either does so, he automatically proves himself far narrower than 
the man he criticises. — The Daily Princetonian. 

SCATTERING ONE'S ENERGIES 
There are a good many seniors in the University, who, as they 
look back over their college course, can call to mind the many 
things they have tried to do, or have done after a fashion, but none 
of which they have done thoroughly. Part of these, at least, will 
have some feelings of regret, perhaps, that they did not confine 
their fields of action more closely, and do thoroughly a few things, 
rather than scatter their energies over a multitude of activities. 
As it is, if a man has been more or less active or prominent in 
University affairs, by the time he is a senior he is dividing his 
time among a dozen or more different things, and the result 
is that he cannot do any of them conscientiously or thoroughly, 
not even his studies. 

If a man is ambitious, opportunities and honors are likely 
to come his way. If he is ambitious merely, the glory that comes 
from position will be his final goal. If he is both ambitious and 
conscientious, he will feel the responsibility that goes with his posi- 
tion. If a man of the latter class can look back over his college 
course and feel that he has completely shouldered all the re- 
sponsibilities he has accepted, that what he has done he has 
done thoroughly or to the best of his ability, he ought to be able 
to graduate with a feeling of satisfaction. But men of this sort 
are indeed the exception. 

The young and ambitious college man is almost certain to 
attempt more than he can do. He is willing to shoulder respon- 
sibility, but usually he tries to shoulder too much ; and amid all 
the glories of graduation, if he is a conscientious nature, he 
will feel that he has left behind h. ? debt that he never can 
pay. — The Daily Illini. 



THE COLLEGE KIDDER 

Of the characteristics of the college man of today, the one 
which is perhaps the most distinctly marked is the ability and 
habit of "kidding," a practice redeemed to a great extent by the 
training which the college man receives in learning to give back 
as good as he receives. A man who has spent four years in an 
American institution of higher education is usually prepared 
for practical jokes of every known species, and for "kidding," 
clever, asinine, subtle or painfully obvious. He is about as easily 
ruffled by a jest, as a hippopotamus is put to flight with an airgun. 

The college man is an intellectual silk-worm. About his real 
self, by a process of years, he has woven a thread of manner, 
of joke and jest, so long and deep, that it is seldom that his real 
friends penetrate to the man within. His heart is anywhere but 
on his sleeve. And few would have it otherwise. 

But, growing out of such an attitude towards the men with 
whom he comes daily in contact, the college man has reached 
an extreme. So long have his daily conversations and chats at 
the dinner table or in his study been mere "kidding matches," 
that in many cases he has lost his power to talk logically, con- 
sistently, upon a topic of any nature more serious than the 
Chicago game or the Varsity's chances against Penn. And, if 
perchance he has that power, he is afraid to use it, knowing well 
that the opening of any serious topic means the receipt of a 
choice and assorted collection of wit. 

Picture a group of men in a fraternity or boarding house 
engaged in talking over a matter of any importance. The con- 
versation is becoming interesting and logical. The men are 
intellectually on edge. Of a sudden a rustling sound is heard. 
The house baboon, scenting his opportunity, utters his racial 
noise and swings nimbly into the conversation. Immediately 
seriousness is at an end. The rest of the group, from force of 
habit join in with that species of comment that can only be 
described as "clever." The subject is forgotten. 

Undoubtedly this resi^^ ■ hm one or two men, college simians 



58 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

whose capacity for "cleverness" is greater than that of the under- 
graduates with whom they come in contact, and who cannot 
allow an opportunity for the exercise of this faculty go by 
unheeded. They have a melancholy reward. Ever, their most 
serious remarks are to be taken as a joke, it is impossible to 
look upon them seriously. The humor of the old circus con- 
versation has its touch of pathos. "Why did Jones become a 
clown ?" asks the tattooed man ; "in college he was always the 
life of the party," answers the bearded woman. 

Such a situation which tends towards the discouragement of 
any serious discussion among undergraduates is no small con- 
tributor to that intellectual slovenliness which educators declare 
to be perhaps the paramount problem in American universities. 
The average undergraduate reads what? His textbook on 
occasions, the Saturday Evening Post always, and some of the 
monthly magazines. The remainder of his reading course 
usually retails at $i.o8 per volume. 

No one would ask that the dinner meeting of students should 
resemble an undertakers' convention. But once in a while a 
serious thought outside of the classroom would not be amiss ; 
a little wit could be well exchanged for a bit of real intellect. — 
Cornell Sun. 

THE COSMOPOLITAN 

McGill is the most cosmopolitan university in all Canada. 

Men and women from all nine provinces have come to her 
halls. Several nationalities are represented on her registration 
books. The word "letters from home" connotes more here in 
one respect than in either Toronto, Queens or Royal Military 
College. 

Each of the three other members of the quartet of large colleges 
in the Dominion draws especially from one class of the popula- 
tion. Toronto is essentially British. R. M. C. is a soldiers' col- 
lege. Queen's contains very few non-Protestants. 

All creeds and many tongues are represented in our student 
body. Friendships are formed where elsewhere language would 
be a difficulty, and religious beliefs a big obstacle. — The McGill 
Daily. 



SECRECY AMONG THE "HONORED" 

When the cave man stepped out of his cavern and stole a 
goat from his next door neighbor, he made his family promise 
not to tell. They kept the secret — otherwise the next door neigh- 
bor would have retaliated by bouncing a boulder on his talkative 
neighbor's Neanderthal. 

It seems that the primitive instinct — secrecy — has come down 
to date. We all have secrets. We all tell them. Mr. A knows 
the secret that Mr. B told him. The secret came originally from 
Mr. C, and Mr. C does not know Mr. A knows it. As long as he 
doesn't find out the secret is still a secret. 

In our highly enlightened, democratic, Christian world we tell 
things we don't want the other fellow to know about. Sometimes 
it is just as well the secret stays a secret. 

Fraternities, most of them, are secret. The matters taken 
up in the usual chapter meeting are and of right ought to be the 
property alone of those who are members. It means much to the 
man within the pale. It would mean nothing to the outsider. 

But when a society sets itself up as the junior-senior honor 
society, its doings are of interest to the student body. Its every 
move is watched. When it becomes an "honor" society, then its 
pretenses at secrecy only serve to increase the interest of the 
students. They like to watch comedy. They like to know the 
joke. They are enjoying the brand of comedy "au jus" that the 
Oval club has been doling out. 

If the Oval club were a real honor society — if it really lived 
up to what its founders planned — it would find little use for 
throwing a shroud of secrecy about its august gatherings. The 
student board of control last year held one executive session. It 
thought it was getting away with it — until it read a full account 
of the meeting the next day in The Daily. When any body 
supposed to have influence on the campus — when any representa- 
tive organization — tries to shut out the light of jniljlicity, it only 
arouses the curiosity to a greater degree. Then it is the public 
wants to know what is going on. 



6o COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

The public can see it in only two ways. 

Either the business transacted is of such type that the society 
is afraid to have it made public — is ashamed of it — or the society 
deliberately sets itself on a pinnacle and says: "We are IT." 

There was once a king of France who said: "I am France." 
France is now a republic. — The University of IVashington Daily. 



CROWDING OUT THE BOHEMIAN 

The day of the Bohemian newspaper man is passing. He is 
seldom seen in the offices he ornamented so grotesquely. He is 
being supplanted by a new type — of which the smooth-shaven, 
well-dressed, college-trained young man is an example. Schools 
of journalism are aiding the transition. 

It was not long ago that the visitor to the average metro- 
politan newspaper office was shocked by the appearance of the 
workers. Clipping his way through clouds of tobacco smoke, 
he saw through the maze odd-looking figures working at desks. 
They puffed corn cob pipes, wafted expanding circles of smoke 
about the city room and mutilated copy with stubby blue pencils. 
They lacked much of being cleanly shaven and were queerly 
dressed. It seemed as if "artistic characters" described in fiction 
stories sat before him. It was the day of the Bohemian news- 
paper man. 

This passing type was distinctive, if the odd and peculiar con- 
tribute to distinction. He allowed his hair to grow long, and 
cultivated a stubby beard to make a triangular effect with his 
extending side-whiskers. He was shuffling in dress and devoid 
of all neatness. According to custom, tradition and definition, 
he was a boozefighter and led a slip-shod existence. His ability 
to write and edit made his connection with the office pay roll 
tolerated. 

But the newspaper owners came to demand well-dressed men 
of gentlemanly appearance. Schools of journalism, with the 
School of Journalism of the University of Missouri in the lead, 
were ready to supply the need. Their graduates, carefully 
trained in newspaper work, are putting final rout to the Bohe- 
mian. — Universit \ Missourian. 



YOU AND I TO BLAME 

There has been plenty of condemnation of the three "M" men 
and football players who went on a hunting trip for four days, 
deserting their lessons, their game, their coach and their college. 
There are always those who stand ready to hurl the brickbats of 
criticism and scorn at others who falter ; there are too few, indeed, 
who are ready to praise, encourage and help. 

However, the men concerned are undoubtedly deserving of cen- 
sure. It is a mark of a growing Montana sentiment that the 
student body has awakened to the realization that every Montana 
student owes duties to his alma mater more important that the 
gratification of personal desires. When within ten days before 
one of the most important games of the season three men — all 
wearing the letter of highest athletic honor; one of them the act- 
ing captain, the president of the student body and the main re- 
liance in the line ; another the heir-apparent to the captaincy, the 
pivotal man in the back field, and the third a tried football player 
of long experience who may at any time be needed for first team 
duty — deliberately leave on a pleasure excursion which keeps 
them out of practice for three days then the rights and interests 
of the university and the student body who have honored those 
men, and who rely on those men, are not only disregarded, but 
injured. 

At such a juncture the student body, as a theoretical proposition, 
is justified in condemning in the most stringent manner the ill 
act which has deprived them and their university of having the 
very best chances for victory. 

Other things being equal, in a school with a well established 
and aggressive and deep-seated spirit, no measures would be too 
extreme to take against those men. Instances without number 
may be cited. But, without condoning at all the desertion of the 
three players, it is to be borne in mind that at Montana, we have 
not yet achieved the unity of spirit, the sincere love of alma 
mater which makes the ostracization of such men the natural and 
the consistent thing to do. 

6i 



62 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

The hunting trip, fellow students, was the result of conditions 
for which you and I are each of us in part responsible. We are 
approaching, but we have not yet reached, the point where our 
alma mater is considered worthy of sacrifice, and it is only through 
sacrifice that the truest love is gained. Which one of us is will- 
ing, to put the matter frankly, to give up a hunting trip, or a 
fussing party, or a game of cards, or any other diversion for 
the purpose of helping along our university? 

There you are. Your attitude and my attitude is no different 
and no better than the attitude of the men whom we have so un- 
sparingly censured. When the majority of students at Montana 
reach that stage of student transcendentalism which obtains in 
the older institutions where college spirit is not only a boast and 
a bugaboo, but a real live power which draws for its sustenance 
on the hearts and minds of every student, then we will be in a 
position when we can say to those who show a lack of spirit that 
they are not worthy of their college. 

The incident of the hunting trip is over. The town papers have 
enjoyed plenty of horrification. The students have sufficiently 
found fault. No useful end can now be served by further harp- 
ing on the subject. Those who made the trip are no more guilty 
than the rest of us ; they are unfortunate enough to be prominent 
which makes them public targets, and convenient object lessons 
for our preachment. We whose services are not so badly needed, 
but who shirk constantly in our own sneaking little ways have 
just as great a lesson to learn from this incident as the men 
themselves. 

If the proper spirit of charity is now shown, we will not hold 
this hunting trip against the three football men, but we will, with 
them, fervently resolve to let it result in the working out of a 
better and a stronger Montana spirit which in the days to come 
will not even permit the thought of a hunting trip to interfere 
with football practice. We will cheer them to-morrow and expect 
them to make doubly good against the Mormons to prove their 
regret for their action and to deserve the forgiveness of every 
true Montanan. — The Weekly Kaimin, University of Montana. 



SOME DEFECTS OF THE CURRICULUM 

When the New Curriculum was first promulgated we bowed 
humbly before its might and made obeisance to the superior intel- 
ligence which conceive it. We praised the principles of its 
construction and urged that the undergraduates give it their 
cordial support. In anticipation of our present position, how- 
ever, we were led to the assertion that "actual practice may re- 
veal defects which theory has hitherto obscured." For these 
saving words of grace, we are now profoundly thankful, for 
surely our fears have been justified. 

The conservatives will maintain that any criticism of the cur- 
riculum is at this time abortive, since the new order of things 
must first be thoroughly tried out, and since conclusions can only 
be safely drawn from its ultimate effects. "We must wait until 
the present sophomores have gone through one complete cycle 
under its regulations," cautions an unquestioned authority on the 
curriculum. This reminds us of a certain Oriental caliph who, 
when he had condemned a subject to death by slow poison, re- 
fused to remit the sentence despite the subsequent discovery of 
extenuating circumstances. He would not reconsider the sen- 
tence until it had been fully carried out, and he could test the 
subject's deserts by the efifect produced. As a concession to the 
relatives of the deceased, he was chief mourner at the funeral. 

Unfortunately, we do not agree with the caliph, and hence 
desire to champion the cause of 1914 before the post-mortem 
stage is reached. The senior and junior classes come to us 
with a sure claim on our sympathy. The promise was made 
to them in an early address on the curriculum, that wherever the 
new regulations "worked hardship" to members of these classes, 
special dispensations would be granted in the interests of justice. 
This promise has not been fulfilled. Instead, every restriction 
that could possibly be applied has been brought to bear on the 
juniors and seniors. Of such injustice, an example is the case of 
one junior who has been required to take next year four Eng- 
lish courses and one language course, and who, as a result, in- 

■ 63 



64 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

tends to leave college. Yet the poor upperclassmen have not 
even the consolation usually granted to subjects of scientific ex- 
perimentation — that the deductions drawn from their sufiferings 
should be of service to future generations. For the same un- 
questioned authority on the New Curriculum has admitted that 
19 1 2 and 191 3 are at best but cross-bred mongrels of the old 
and new systems, from whose abnormal experiences no satis- 
factory inferences may be drawn. 

Enough of reasons for so timing our criticism. Now we must 
follow the complaints themselves. We object to the new curric- 
ulum (i) for the inherent defects in its construction, (2) for the 
policy on which it is based. Under the first head we assign three 
chief causes for complaint: (a) the over-use of the prerequisite- 
to-all-things theory, (b) the iron-clad year-course wherever it is 
obviously illogical, (c) the resultant victimization of the indivi- 
dual to the system. 

All these restrictions operate to curtail individual liberty, to 
destroy the all-redeeming spark of spontaneity, to make the Cur- 
riculum the master, not the servant of the student in his perilous 
path toward the coveted degree. The New Curriculum is based 
on the absolute fallibility of the student: that he does not wish 
to get a thorough education, and if he did, would not know how to 
go about it, and that his personal tastes must be eradicated as in- 
siduously dangerous to his welfare. We have heard as much 
admitted by Faculty members, who have had, we confess, much 
past reason for pessimism concerning the undergraduate mem- 
bers of the college. We have also heard admitted, what is 
stated in a communication to this issue, that most of the faults 
of the New Curriculum arose from departmental jealousies and 
squabbles. 

We close here the more technical side of our discussion and 
reserve for the next issue consideration of the graver faults which 
seem to us to underlie the New Curriculum, — the high protective 
tariff built up for English and History, the handicap loaded on 
the Classics, and the staggering blow dealt to the Philosophy 
Department. 

[In publishing this criticism of the New Curriculum we con- 
fess at once to the pure selfishness of our motives. We want a 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 65 

good education. We came here for a good education. In fact, 
we cannot too strongly disclaim any intention to avoid getting a 
good education. Consequently we state conditions as we see 
them. 

The material presented here considers only half of what we 
have in mind to print concerning the Curriculum. It is the more 
technical, perhaps less significant aspect of the case. Until we 
have published our whole argument we shall decline to publish 
any letter of reply. 

Meanwhile we shall welcome communications which consider 
individual grievances or any personal opinions which our readers 
may have to offer. The individual cases are of course valuable 
only in their totality. Let us arrive at this totality and silence 

for a time the oft-repeated "Yes, Mr. it does seem to 

work hardship in your case but in all the others, it is Utopian."] 
— IVilliams Record. 

COMPULSORY CHAPEL 

The tightening of the disciplinary strings that are attached 
to the grave and reverend old institution of daily chapel force a 
protest from the Princetonian. The means for the evangelization 
of Princeton are like Benjamin Franklin's Presbyterians, 'the 
more you damn them, the more they grow.' Even now, there 
are signs of o'er-leaping. 

Our present day chapelalian duties are inherited from our 
militant puritan ancestors, who could not enjoy a day of peace, un- 
less, before breakfast, they had flayed their own wayward bodies, 
reformed three sinners, and killed a Quaker. To them, religion 
and discipline were one and the same. Amusements, however 
innocent, were a revolt against principle. And the crowning 
glory of the whole sect was the production of the Dimmersdalian 
philosophy of life. 

The disconnection of religion and discipline is a triumph of 
modern times. Religion to be of value must be voluntary ; dis- 
cipline must always be imposed by authority. By making chapel 
a disciplinary function, religion is no longer an end in itself, 
but a means. And as a disciplinary measure daily chapel is 
superfluous. — The Daily Princetonian. 



OVERLOADING STUDENT LEADERS 

A growing tendency seems to be prevalent in the University 
to load burdens and responsible offices of the various student or- 
ganizations on too few shoulders. This tendency is particularly 
active just now when many offices are changing hands and new 
administration boards are being constituted. Consequently, those 
students who have shown powers of leadership and willingness to 
serve, are the subjects of inordinate office dispensers who insist 
that the presidency of this organization, or the chairmanship 
of that committee, or the leadership of this movement, must be 
given to those few students. 

We do not urge that a man of ability should not be used, but 
we do say that he should not be abused. And we most em- 
phatically maintain that no person in the University has suffi- 
cient reason to persuade a strong leader to divide his energies 
between two or more organizations. 

One of the faults in our college democracy is the habit which 
persists, that a certain few are expected to do all the work, while 
other capable persons are virtually told to "keep hands off". 
This habit has rooted deeply, perhaps the more so because there 
are no restraining rules among the men of the University as 
there are for the women, to keep them from overloading them- 
selves with offices and college honors. Unless certain persons are 
able to say "No," they will become so far involved in responsi- 
bilities that effective execution of those responsibilities will be 
impossible. 

This whole situation involves at least three bad features. In 
the first place the man himself is subjected to certain dangers ; 
danger of doing poor college work, and danger of permanent in- 
jury to his health. In the second place and this a sort of 
corollary to the foregoing, the duties resting upon the man are 
almost sure to be slighted somewhere. A man may be physi- 
cally and mentally very strong, but he has limitations, and beyond 
these he cannot go no matter how much he may believe himself 



66 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 67 

able to do so. The strong man, unfortunately, is naturally the last 
to recognize these limitations. 

But there is yet another bad feature involved in heaping all 
the offices upon too few shoulders: it deprives possible leaders of 
training. Many a man possessing latent powers of leadership 
has gone through college and never used these powers, simply 
because he has never been called upon to use them. This is 
really serious. If there is one place in the world above all others 
where powers of leadership and initiative should be developed 
and nurtured that place is in our American colleges. Real democ- 
racy, which is unquestionably the ideal our colleges must approach, 
demands that power be distributed and tiiat the capabilities and 
genius of every man be afforded opportunity for exercise. 

We believe that more thought needs to be taken by those who 
have responsible offices to place. No organization is dependent 
upon one man, and most assuredly no one man is responsible for 
the leadership of all organizations. There are many offices to 
fill, and there are many persons in a student body like ours to 
fill them capably, even though those persons may not be in the 
limelight of public recognition. — The Daily Orange, Syracuse 
University. 



ACQUAINTANCE THROUGH COMPETITION 

Many a friendship is made in college through the competitions 
of college activities. One of the best things which contestants 
carry away from the gridiron, the debate platform, or the dra- 
matic stage, is the friendship and associations of their com- 
petitors. The experiences which will last the longest are those 
which center around occasions when student opposes student 
in the fight for [)laces on the various teams. The opportunities 
thus arising may be cited as among the greatest reasons for the 
existence of so-called college activities. And further, the fact 
that such opportunities reside in these activities makes the 
appeal to enter them all the more strong and warranted. — 
The Daily Orange, Syracuse University. 



FOOTBALL 

There are no excuses ; there can be no excuses. Michigan 
outplayed Cornell. She outplayed her conclusively, had her on 
the defensive almost the entire game, and v^^on on merit. 

The Cornell team did not "lay down" Saturday and it excelled 
its opponents in kicking and running back kicks. Those are the 
two things for which we can compliment it. For the rest, it gave 
a high class exhibition of "bone-headed" football. Lower your 
head and buck into the nearest man to you and on no account use 
your head to think with at the same time, seemed to be its motto. 

What the Cornell team needs most of all just at present is a 
little football sense or instinct. Fight is useless without direc- 
tion. It is inspiring to see eleven men close their eyes, put their 
heads down, and smash in and throw ten Michigan men back 
bodily — but it's what Sherman said war is to see the eleventh 
man on the Michigan team calmly back out of the melee and 
prance around the end and across the goal line unhindered. Next 
it needs common sense. Lastly, it needs confidence, confidence 
of each member in himself and in every other member of the team. 



At present this situation confronts us : we have a team which 
has been beaten badly by Carlisle, Pittsburgh, Harvard and 
Michigan; which tied Colgate, just nosed out Bucknell and has 
won two out of eight games played so far — those with Ursinus 
and Oberlin. It has made a disgraceful record. What are we 
going to do about it? From the standpoint of The Sun, the 
course to take that would mirror the feeling most prevalent 
at this moment on the Hill, would be one in which the game 
Saturday would be dissected, blunder by blunder; the foot- 
ball team would be told individually and collectively that it 
was rotten, that it had no spirit and no brains, worthy to 
represent the University. We could put it strong enough 
so the whole football squad would see red and want to come 
down and clean out this office. We might put it strong enough 
to put a fighting mad spirit into the practices ; this might de- 
velop into unity and cohesion and sense ; and it might last over 

68 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 69 

into the Layfayette and Penn games. It is always easy to yell 
"punk" and then do nothing yourself. 

But we prefer to put it on a higher basis. We prefer to tell 
the team that first, foremost and all the time we are back of it. 
We cannot tell it that we are proud of it. We are not. Cornell 
football history had done more to discredit Cornell in the popular 
mind than any other one thing. We cannot be proud of Cor- 
nell's football record and we cannot be proud of a team that has 
won two out of eight games. But we can say that we realize that 
it is our team and that if support of any kind will help it we 
stand ready to give it. 

This we can place squarely before the squad. At present it 
is allowing Cornell to be the laughing stock of the football 
world. If it has an ounce more of fight, in it, if it can possibly 
pay any better attention to the coaches, if it can train the least 
trifle more carefully, if it can be bettered in anything, it owes it 
to the University to do it. It owes it to itself and its coaches, 
too, but primarily it owes it to the University. It must do its best. 



It must be admitted that the support given the team was rank. 
There was more encouragement and helpfulness in that little 
band of Michigan rooters than there was in the whole extent 
of Percy Field. 

Let us say here and now to the supposedly loyal Cornellians 
who knowingly took girls into the cheering section that they have 
our profoundest contempt. Their action was disloyal and selfish 
in the extreme. What was needed was a solid cheering section — 
of solid cheers, too — and we certainly did not get it Saturday. 
Our support of the team Saturday was nil minus. 
' What is happening up in New Haven right now ? Has the Yale 
undergraduate body been knocking the team promiscuously? On 
the contrary, it is supporting it better than ever before. When 
an alumnus writes in to the Yale publications does he condemn 
the team? No. He condemns the entire undergraduate body 
and asks where its Yale spirit has gone. What brought Michi- 
gan out of the slough in which she was floundering until two 
weeks ago? The return of one man to the game and two 
or three smashing mass meetings. 

Cornell must get that "football atmosphere." — Cornell Sun. 



ON THE UNPRODUCTIVENESS OF CERTAIN 
INDIVIDUALS 

Editorials as a rule are not interesting. But if they bore you, 
think how awful it must be for the man who has to write them 
every day, day after day, world without end. 

It is easy enough to fill this column. It is as easy as it is to 
fill a money bag — with moth balls. But the poor man who comes 
along picks it up and, instead of finding something worth while, 
finds only the stale, musty smell of last year's hand downs. 
The function of an editorial is not to fill a column but to praise, 
blame and suggest. As it is much more difficult to praise and to 
suggest than it is to blame, an editor is therefore one of those 
men who spend most of their time looking for trouble. And he 
usually finds it. But there is nearly always something on which 
to write an editorial. If there is not anything, then there is 
nothing, and that is what we have chosen to write on to-day — 
nothing. 

It is appalling to look at the number of men in the University 
who do nothing. Men who have ability, but who spend their days 
killing time, doing — nothing. Men whose names appear in the 
Bric-a-Brac but three times — in the directory, in, the class roll 
and under the heading "Cliosophic Society" or "American Whig 
Society." The reason that their names appear three times is not 
that they realize the value of the Halls but that someone told them 
to join. Men who seem to have no ideas of their own, Avho 
produce — nothing. Men who take things ready-made, who, on 
graduation, step into ready-made positions and become "suc- 
cessful" business men. But men who give the world — nothing. 

Look at them in any lecture hour. They are either asleep or 
hunting through the morning's Prince for typographical errors. 
Look at them in their room, studying, maybe, but learning — 
nothing. Talking, perhaps but saying — nothing. Day after day 
they shuffle through their bromidic existence, they travel the easy 
road of unproductiveness which leads from Nowhere to Nothing. 

There is enough here so that everybody can do something. 

-0 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 71 

But you can pick fifty men in each class who do practically every- 
thing for their class, and there is an equal number who do abso- 
lutely—nothing. What is their value? Nothing. Yet, after all, 
they have their place in the system of things, — they are the nth 
term in a rapidly converging series. — The Daily Princetonian. 



THE MEDIOCRE MAN 

Every year some newspaper man goes through the pawn shops 
of New York or Boston, and on the strength of discovering 
a Phi Beta Kappa key or two in pawn, writes an article to show 
that leaders in the scholastic world are generally failures in life. 
Probably no fallacy has more credence and less truth than this. 
Many undergraduates accept it as a fact because it consoles them 
in the belief that their mediocrity in college will, in some miracu- 
lous way, be converted into excellence in their professions. 

Experience and statistics furnish abundant proof that such 
men are following a will o' the wisp. A glance through "Who's 
Who in America" will show that among the many college men 
listed there, for having done something worth while, extremely 
few have had plain pass records in college. Most of them have 
taken their degrees with distinction ; many of them are members 
of the Phi Beta Kappa. It is the rare exception when a failure 
or near failure in college becomes a success in after life. Some 
men realize this, but, unfortunately, delude themselves into think- 
ing that they will be the exceptions, when the chances are several 
hundred to one that their records after college will be like 
their records in college, flat, undistinguished C's. While Phi Beta 
Kappa keys and cum laude degrees and honorary scholarships are 
no sure passports to prosperity, they are, without question, fairly 
accurate promises of future success. Scores of cases could be 
adduced to prove it in the history of Harvard graduates alone. 
Bearing this in mind, the mediocre man should strive to better 
his status while yet there is time by acquiring habits of regular 
and concentrated study without which success, in college or out of 
it. cannot be attained. — The Harvard Crimson. 



A SHADOW OF ST-V-R 

J'hc typical "collcf^e hero," once a vapid athletic wax model, 
skilled in the use of slang and brawn, has, as we know, within the 
last four years developed symptoms of morbidity. His mind, 
like his body at the sound of an alarm clock, has gone through the 
first agony of awakening, to be at once grasped and tormented 
by a passion for reforming. The awakening, to be sure, gives 
a faint ray of hope, like a child's first teeth, in ])romising some- 
thing better — after this stormy passion has passed. Our own 
great Dink, surely graduated from New Haven by this time, we 
like to think, has either achieved discretion, or death. But though 
the founder of the race has dc])arted, the (jcnus Dink has not 
become extinct: the doscendents of our hero promise to be as 
numerous as those of Aeneas. The honor of harboring the latest 
falls to Princeton, where Deering, formerly of Deal, N. J., is 
holding forth in decorated cloth for a dollar-twenty-five net. 

This young gentleman has every trait that would rejoice his 
New Haven ancestor. He can move a book advertiser to an 
artificial ecstasy. He can move Princeton. Of course, he 
rushes directly from the frontispiece into a hazing match, "of 
far-reaching importance," and then into a few football games. 
He stands aside for a moment, with the deferential air of a true 
hero, while his roommate wins "a pretty girl, around whom," 
according to the advertiser, "there centres a touch of sentiment." 
Rut he does not achieve the glory characteristic of his race, until 
"at the sacrifice of much that he values," he has reformed the 
eating club system, "the fraternity regime of Princeton." 

With this dashing fellow whisiicring in every Freshman's ear, 
Princeton at once becomes perilously infested. The true and de- 
lightful humor of a second Stover snooping around strange places 
can be appreciated in its completeness only by people living in 
New Haven — whence the dejected Dink departed late last spring. 
Now it is Princeton's turn. It will be aiuusing to see how many 
diiTerent kinds of reforms can be instituted there by troubled 
undergraduates. And it will also be interesting to see how soon 

72 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 73 

ihe descendants of their ini]H)sing ancestor have reformed llar- 
vard, Williams, Cornell, lirovvn, Rutgers, i'ennsylvania, Col- 
umhia, and a few other American colleges. — Yale Nczvs. 

A FORMULA FOR FAME 

Orators, baseball players, and all other performers in public, 
worship the spectacular, because it makes the audience shout. 
However brief, the shout gives an enormous thrill : it proves at 
least a momentary notoriety, for which men are ambitious. Here, 
the undergraduate apes the orator, or ball player; and desires 
fame, instantaneous, temporary. With the foresight of a healthy 
rooster, the dogged energy of aml)ition, and all the solemn grim- 
ness of an early martyr, he gropes for his fame. And, often 
stifling his own inclinations in choosing his work, he snatches 
blindly and wildly for whatever he thinks makes him famous 
in the eyes of the community. 

H the community countenances managerships, he covets 
managerships; and forgoes everything else, li it sanctions 
sociability, he becomes sociable; or business, he begins to so- 
licit ; or a string of titles, he begins to gather them. Like the 
warrior, he goes after scalps, often very bald. In so aspiring 
he may have no ulterior and sinister motive whatever: the 
activities alone are often spectacular enough. But they are 
carried to an extreme that has become proverbially absurd. 
Sleepless nights, sunken eyes, sallow cheeks symbolize a very 
inane effort made by many a young chicken who pushes his 
head out of his shell, and peeps for recognition. And the rec- 
ognition acquired becomes infamous. 

Aspiration of this sort, we think, will survive while tolerated 
by the sensible and imaginative undergraduate. People think 
the trouble comes from excessive ambition. The real trouble 
is excessive lack of ambition. An undergraduate, with infer- 
nal indifference, is willing or eager to sacrifice his happiness, 
his enthusiasm, friendships, the acquisition of a mind, a part 
of his future jjotency, — for the vain and little i)ursuit of glory or 
notoriety. Here we have comedy and tragedy. When a man 
has ambitions enough nf)t to follow the mad mob like a blind 
shcc]), but to satisfy his own conscience in doing his work, he has 
achieved the true formula for fame.— 7//r Yale Nc7vs. 



UNDERGRADUATE SCHOLARS 

Just as Woodrow Wilson remarked some years ago while ad- 
dressing an audience of educators, in college the side shows have 
crowded out the main circus, and the varied undergraduate 
activities, to be sure both "active and interesting," are attracting 
the main body of students. The number of men who come to 
college with the intention of pursuing scholarship as their chief 
interest from the start of their academic career is lamentably 
small, for young men realize that the activities of the scholar 
are not attended with band playing or cheering. Almost un- 
noticed and unknown the man who devotes himself primarily to 
the cause of scholarship labors incessantly for four years and 
finally receives graduation honors. To him this official stamp of 
success is his reward. Yet in spite of the fact that the undergrad- 
uate scholar of his own accord chooses this career which he 
knows receives small recognition from his fellows, when he may 
be quite able to win high distinction in the so-called "outside 
interests and activities," he is dubbed a narrow-minded, self- 
seeking "grind," who seeks to take all from and give nothing to 
his University. 

This is the greatest of undergraduate delusions. In the first 
place, Harvard University exists now and for all time to dissemi- 
nate learning and to increase the fund of scholarship. Hence all 
efforts to raise the standards of scholarship to this University 
are worthy of the highest praise, for they perpetuate Harvard as 
an institution of learning and maintain her in her leadership of 
American universities. So the devotion of any undergraduate to 
the cause of scholarship does not in itself signify that he is a 
narrow-minded, parasitic, and incapable being. Furthermore it 
is claimed that the undergraduate scholars work solely for grades 
and that they are not truly interested in scholarly endeavor. Such 
a contention is not true. Of course, marks stand as an index of 
proficiency in scholarship, and naturally if a man is striving to 
attain a high standard he will ipse facto receive high grades. 
Rut the high grades are not the sole aim and object of his work. 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 



/o 



When a candidate for a paper or an atliletic team reports, he 
is not prompted by any feehng of altruism, but is out to do his 
best to gain a position on an editorial board or to win the in- 
signia of a team. The editorial position or the letter represent 
his proticiency in the line of work he pursues. Similarly the 
undergraduate scholar is ambitious to distinguish himself in 
scholarship and is eager to win the mark of proficiency in his 
field just as is the athlete. The facts of the matter are that both 
are striving for excellence in their respective fields, and for 
excellence as measured by the standards set in those fields. 

Why the athlete receives all the cheering and praise and the 
undergraduate scholar none, is a moot question. Yet one answer 
may be suggested. A group of sturdy college athletes can play a 
game of football as well as it ever can be played. On the other 
hand it is highly ridiculous to compare for an instant the theses or 
examinations of undergraduate scholars with the productions 
of famous scholars and professors. The crux of the question is 
this : the college man is just about in his prime physically and can 
perform athletic feats as well as they can be done ; the under- 
graduate scholar, on the contrary, is just beginning to ripen 
intellectually and does not attain his full mental development 
until many years after graduation. Hence undergraduates and 
the public are not interested in puerile performances, which 
represent only training for higher things, whereas they are in- 
tensely interested in athletic performances that cannot be 
bettered. 

But here again the old question of the primary purpose of 
a university arises. An institution of learning exists to train 
minds for future usefulness, and all efforts conducive to the most 
complete fulfillment of this purpose promote more than any- 
thing else the welfare of the university. Hence the highest 
praise is due to undergraduate scholars who are willing to forego 
the praise and emulation of their fellow students and often 
suffer under terms of oppn)1)riuni in order to further the real 
purpose of their college and to prepare themselves to extend its 
influence in the future. So to the men who after two and three 
years of great exertion and hard, earnest work, have distin- 



76 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

guished themselves as the leading scholars of Harvard College, 
v^e extend our heartiest congratulations upon their election to 
the Phi Beta Kappa. — Harvard Crimson. 

THE INSTRUCTOR WHO FAILED 

An instructor's profession is teaching. His duty is to help men 
to learn, to inspire them with interest for his subject, and to aid 
them to work and pass his course. Undoubtedly he should not 
smooth away every rough place in his pupil's path, for the over- 
coming of difficulties and the solving of perplexing problems are 
part of the game of study as well as of the game of life. Yet the 
teacher is placed in the classroom as an aid, not as an obstacle. 

Young instructors frequently assume an antagonistic attitude 
towards their men. They try to find how much a man does not 
know, rather than to help him to know more. Fearful of being 
reputed "easy marks," they take the ground that each man is 
trying to pass their course with as little work as possible and that 
it is their duty to prevent him. Their attitude antagonizes and 
repels the interest of most of their students. The work of their 
class is no more satisfactory than would be the work of a team 
which disliked its coach. 

We quote from the Alumni Revieiu of December 1909, the 
following anecdote concerning James H. Canfield '68, Chan- 
cellor of the University of Nebraska. Toward the close of the 
college year a young tutor of mathematics who was completing 
his first year of service came into the Chancellor's office and 
asked whether he was to be reappointed for another year. The 
Chancellor said, "Well, what do you yourself think of your 
work? What have you done that you are proud of ?" The young 
tutor answered, "Mr. Chancellor, I have just held such a stiff ex- 
amination in my course that I have flunked sixty members of the 
freshman class." The chancellor looked at him kindly and said. 
"Young man, suppose I gave you a herd of one hundred cattle to 
drive to Kansas City, or Omaha, and you came in to tell me that 
you had driven them so fast, and so hard, and had made such 
good time, that 60 per cent of them died on the way. Do you 
think that I should want you to drive any more cattle to the 
Missouri River?" "No sir," said the tutor. "Well. I do not think 
we will let you drive any more freshmen." — The IVilliams Record. 



PROFESSOR RICHARDSON 

The news of the death of Professor Charles Francis Richardson 
stunned the comprehension of the College, which still felt the 
living influence of his great heart and noble mind. The sense 
of loss is here, but the realization of all that his loyalty and de- 
votion means to Dartmouth is not yet complete. Words which 
man can inscribe are but pitiful tributes to such a man, yet meagre 
words can perhaps point out in Professor Richardson the ideal 
which the best in Dartmouth produces, the type which the Col- 
lege will ever strive for, and the goal which her men should seek. 

Professor Richardson was a broad scholar, a noble gentleman, 
and above all, a whole-hearted man. In the classroom, he taught 
not by force, but by inspiration. His enthusiasm for the best of 
English literature found reflection in many of the alumni, who 
received perhaps their first appreciation, and their first love for 
the great in prose and poetry from the living words of Professor 
Richardson. He breathed the divine fire of inspiration into the 
minds of the men who sat under him, and instilled a love of letters 
in all who heard him. 

In his life here. Professor Richardson taught, both by example 
and by precept, the lessons of literature in the classroom, and the 
lessons of life outside. Not for him did the closing classroom 
door shut off the student from the teacher, but with the treas- 
ures of his wit and learning, he would at once advise, guide, and 
instruct the men whom his magnetic personality drew to himself. 

A life of work blessed with accomplishment was the lot of 
Doctor Richardson. In his early years at Dartmouth, he alone 
bore the burden of all instruction in English, and his last years 
of leisure were the reward of long labor, 

" the twilight of such a day 

As after sunset fadeth in the west." 

Calm reflection and placid self control were characteristics 
of the man. and these qualities, together with an universal in- 
terest in the problems of the life about him, and an inquiring 



78 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

mind, which desired knowledge in order to enrich that store- 
house of wisdom from which he might draw to give pleasure or 
counsel to all about him, made him at once the object of admira- 
tion, and of love. 

In such a man we find embodied an ideal that Dartmouth may 
worthily strive for: the excellence of the scholar, the teacher, 
the courteous gentleman, and the great-hearted friend. His 
loyalty to the College, and his love for it has been unfailing, and 
his name deserves to be recollected as an example to all men, 
who now in the hurly-burly of life sometimes think that there is 
no time or use for the cultural studies. Professor Richardson's 
fame rests assured on the basis of his work as an author and 
scTiolar, on the love which the Dartmouth alumni bear him, and 
on the fact that he was one of the few who have left inspiration 
in the train of their teaching. His fame shall survive, in the words 
of Dartmouth men, and in the lines of one of his beloved Shakes- 
pearian sonnets : 

"You still shall live 

Where breath most breathes, even in the mouths of men." 

— The Dartmouth. 

LOOKING FORWARD 

There is a freshman student in the College of Agriculture 
who has formed the habit of looking into the future at the same 
time he is reaping the benefits of the present. 

For four years this young man worked in the mines near his 
home town in southwest Missouri till far into the night while 
pursuing his studies in high school during the day. Miners there 
receive good wages, and he was able to accumulate a savings 
account. Meanwhile he finished his high school course. Then 
he purchased a piece of income bearing property by means of 
which he expects to go through the University. Then he figures 
he'll be able to go out in the world and do things worth while. 

This young man began looking ahead away back in his high 
school days. And there are many students almost through the 
University who haven't begun to figure on the future yet. — 
University Missourian. 



THE MORRIS CHAIR HABIT 

Older than the alchemists' search for mystically-made gold, or 
the explorers' search for the fountain of eternal youth, is the 
everlasting search for happiness. For its possession have been 
given countless receipts by the philosophers of all ages, even 
the undergraduate reflects the search, as he reflects, all the world 
without, by cynical mottoes hung upon his study wall. It is 
found in a myriad ways, most often, perhaps, in health and hard 
work. 

A great college community, being always a replica in miniature 
of the world outside, presents every type of man, every degree 
of drone and worker. The art of work may reach a high de- 
velopment in the college community, but the art of loafing may 
be discovered in its zenith. Nowhere, we fancy, outside of a 
certain portion of undergraduates, can such highly organized, 
systematically perfected loafing be discovered. The indictment 
is not one which can be brought against undergraduates as a 
whole. The average student works hard, that is, as hard as he 
knows how to work; another class as described by President 
Garfield, "loafs discriminatingly," but the class for which college 
has no place, the class whose influence is entirely bad, is the 
class which works neither on books or college activities, neither 
on the Hill, nor Down Town, the men, who are afflicted with the 
Morris Chair Habit. 

The college history of some men is the history of a chair. The 
Man comes as a freshman, he finds his home restraints gone 
and none to take their place. His college course he can make, 
within certain bounds, as difficult or as easy as he pleases. And 
over there in the corner of his study or in the living room of 
his fraternity house, he discovers the Chair. Save to eat and 
sleep, and to perform some absolutely necessary University 
duties, the Man does not leave the Chair. His hardest work is 
his constant planning to evade work. The statement of an 
Ithaca tutor on the question is decidedly to the point — "If some 
men worked as hard on their University work as they do in mak- 
ing plans to avoid it, they would graduate in three years." 

79 



8o COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

For the man who works hard when he works, and plays hard 
when he plays, there is a waiting space in "Who's Who." For the 
man who does his University work fairly well and maintains a 
position of respect in undergraduate activities there is probably 
happiness and some degree of success ahead. For the Man who 
is glued to the Cliair in the corner, who neither works hard nor 
"loafs discriminatingly," there is neither hope nor happiness ; he 
is neither fish nor fowl. 

It is better perhaps to be a good "second story man" than a 
worthless clerk. It is better far that the height of ambition should 
be to annex your name to the "Roll of Honor" in the Tioga 
Bowling Alleys, than to do utterly nothing. Only that man in 
college on whom the Morris Chair Habit has achieved a lasting 
hold is beyond hope. — Cornell Sun. 

OUR IGNORANCE 

Of the thousands of graduates from the American institutions 
of learning every year, how few of them are well versed in 
good literature. 

With all the modern conveniences of our colleges, few men in 
comparison with the total number of students are really ac- 
quainted with the masterpieces of literature. 

Through literature we can become acquainted with the greatest 
thinkers and the greatest writers of every age. We all agree as to 
the broadening influence through the diversity of subjects con- 
sidered, the stimulus and assurance which grows upon us as 
we read such works, and the moral lessons to be learned through 
the realms of classic literature. 

A college man should be able to conver«;e on any author, his 
characteristics of style and his works. 

We do not want to read only, but think of what we read. 
Get into the spirit of the author. Learn to know, to analyze, to 
develop his thoughts. 

During the winter months when college students have the 
most time for such work, let us make use of the excellent li- 
braries at our command here and there, and let us, when we come 
to our graduation, have read, studied, and thought about the 
works of the best writers in poetry and prose. — The Lafayette. 



TO READ OR NOT TO READ 

In connection with the recent warnings of our professors on 
the dangers of reading too much, even in prescribed subjects, it 
is interesting to note that former Premier Balfour, of England, 
strongly advocates the new doctrine of judicious selection, rather 
than a surfeit of assorted facts. Mr. Balfour says that "the best 
method of guarding against the danger of reading what is use- 
less, is to read only what is interesting." 

This statement is too sweeping to be made of universal ap- 
plication, yet there is more than a grain of truth in it. This truth 
may seem a paradox to a whole class of readers, fit objects for 
commiseration, who may be frequently recognized by their habit of 
asking some adviser for "a list of books," and then marking out 
a scheme of study in which all the recommended volumes are to 
be conscientiously perused from cover to cover. 

These unfortunate persons apparently read a book, principally 
with the object of getting to the end of it. They read the word 
"Finis" with the same sensation of triumph that an Indian feels 
who strings a fresh scalp to his belt. They feel a smug self-satis- 
faction at having added another trophy to their list which they 
can volubly discuss. They are not happy unless they mark each 
step in the weary path of self-improvement by some precise, 
exact and definite preformance. 

To begin a volume and not to finish it would be to deprive them- 
selves of this satisfaction ; it would be to lose all the reward of 
their earlier self-denial by a lapse of virtue at the end. To skip, 
according to their literary code, is a species of cheating, — nay 
even, in some cases, this is a crime of the deepest type. It seems to 
them a mode of obtaining credit for erudition on false pretences : 
a plan by which the advantages of learning are surreptitiously 
obtained by those who have not won them by honest toil. But 
all this is radically wrong. In literary matters the number or 
quantity of volumes devoured have no particular efficacy or 
saving grace. 

He has only half-learned the art of reading who has not added 

8i 



82 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

to it the even more refined accomplishments of judiciously skim- 
ming and skipping; and the most important step has not been 
taken in the direction of making literature a pleasure, until in- 
terest in the subject, — and not a desire to spare the author's feel- 
ings, as it were, or to accomplish an appointed task, — is the 
honest and prevailing motive of the reader. — The Varsity, Uni- 
versity of Toronto. 



WHERE IT IS QUIET 

Perhaps among us, when we have graduated, after topics of 
the gridiron, the Lit., the drowsy lecture periods, the dinners, and 
the dances have been talked of, someone will be minded of the 
pleasures of the library. 

Out of the activities of present time and place, we are drawn 
into the life of books, in this huge study place. In warmth, peace 
and comfort of body, we yet catch a little of the thrill of the 
"drums and hoofbeats of conquest" which turned others' calm 
into turmoil. 

Books seem to prove that the dead are merely sleeping. Peep 
between two covers, and the sleeping quickened into wakefulness. 
And old politics, old philosophies, and the science of an earlier 
century, are vibrant before us once more. 

The brightness of day in the afternoon sifts not too glaringly 
through the high windows. The distant grumble which in the 
evening emphasizes the subsistence of bustle through a big city 
is lost in the murmured conversation, after all not often too loud 
to excite hostility, within the volume lined walls. The clock, 
chiming the quarter hours ; new neighbors moving here and there, 
changing ; the siren of a boat in the harbor, or the winding of an 
auto's horn, are momentary noises. 

Many of us will look back at former evenings in the library 
with a kind of longing. The recollection will beckon us with dim 
friendliness, to visit again our Alma Mater. 

So the visitor to the lil)rary is inclined to nod respectfully at 
the man whose bust ornaments a niche in the line of shelves. He 
did well with his money. — The McGill Daily. 



RUGBY 

At the beginning of the fifth intercollegiate rugby season, four 
full years after the foreign game was adopted by the two great 
western universities, the foresight of the two presidents who 
suggested the game becomes apparent. We have commenced prac- 
tice for a match in November that will attract a larger and more 
enthusiastic crowd than did ever the old style football on this 
coast, while in the East, how different is the situation ! Radical 
changes in the rules year by year have caused the public to lose 
interest to a great extent, each season is merely an "experi- 
ment," and the advocates of American football are as far from 
constructing an ideal game as they were five years ago. 

This year marks also the swinging into line of three of the 
strongest high schools in the Bay region — Oakland, Berkeley and 
Lowell High, of San Francisco. Los Angeles High School 
adopted rugby a year ago, as did also the secondary colleges of 
the South, and there remain but three schools of any consequence 
that have taken up the game. They will be brought to it in 
another year, it is expected, and then California can lay claim 
to being the first in solving the problem of finding a successful 
substitute for the old game. 

It is not to be imagined that the eastern universities will take 
up rugby, at least for several years, but the strong sentiment that 
prevails throughout the middle west and the eastern states is in 
favor of a more suitable game than even the revised football. 
Many high schools have dropped the game, and right there the 
matter would stand, if it were not for another factor which the 
east is just beginning to recognize. 

That factor is the returned Rhodes scholarship student, back 
in America to teach or go into business, presumably in his home 
state. By this time there are scores of them, located in every 
state, and the number is being added to each year. They have 
learned rugby first hand from the English and now they are 
teaching it in the high schools and small colleges of the middle 
west. There are teams in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, 

83 



84 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

playing rugby in the high schools in place of the American game, 
and, owing to the action of many school boards in prohibiting 
the old style play, the new game is being learned — and learning 
means the eradication of the foolish prejudice against it. 

Just how far the Rhodes men are going to influence the foot- 
ball situation in America cannot be foretold, but their influence 
cannot be overlooked. At any rate, Stanford and California, 
leading the Pacific Coast, are assuredly in a better position than 
are the big colleges of the east in this period of uncertainty. — 
The Daily Calif ornian. 

TOO BUSY 

There has recently been placed on the circulation desk of the 
library a placard that bears the words: "Make it a practice to 
read a good book each week. You will find it a profitable 
investment." 

The other morning as we were passing by the desk we over- 
heard the following remark : 

"That's all right, but I haven't the time." 

How typical that remark ! How oft repeated in college years, 
and how habitual it may become in after life. 

Everyone realizes the pleasures and benefits that are derived 
from the reading of a good book. But, so few have the time. 
That is, so few have the time now. When summer vacation 
comes, or graduation, or life work, or marriage, or something, 
of the sort, then we shall all read, and oh, how much and pro- 
fitably we shall read. But till that never-to-reach-us time, we 
are too busy, too variously and strenuously occupied for anything 
of the sort. 

This is where the irony creeps in — to delude ourselves with 
the fancy that some day when we are not so busy, we shall do 
all these things, and yet by our previous experience, to be almost 
sure that that day will never come. 

The situation resolves itself into this. If we ever intend to 
associate with the great minds and imaginations, with the great 
lives and great souls of all the ages, our time is now. 

It can be done. The busiest are those who have done it. — 
The Student, North Dakota. 



THE NEW SPHERE FOR COLLEGE MEN 

The world looks to its collcge-bred men for that aggressive 
energy, needed in the solution of its gravest problems. The 
advantages which they have enjoyed should be turned to some 
use in the adjustment of these problems. Where man's duty lies 
is a personal matter to be settled by his own conscience and that 
alone. Whether he chooses the law, medicine, ministry, or 
business for his profession, his choice is a matter of personal 
concern. But man lives not simply for himself, and there are 
fields of labor which, though not enticing, need the intelligent 
effort of the college man. No field feels the need more than the 
submerged tenth, and in this class the sociologist turns from 
those who have been steeped in vice and crime to the juveniles 
who are daily following in the tendencies of their unfortunate en- 
viroment, thus increasing the criminal and degenerate element 
in our general population. This problem is most important be- 
cause of its bearing upon the welfare of society at large. The river 
maintains its purity in proportion to the nature of its feeding 
streams. The tone of our national character is elevated or 
lowered not by the one class of the other, but is modified by the 
character of each. 

These truths have lead to many methods of dealing with juvenile 
crime. The prison fails to punish or deter ; the reformatory 
does not reform. To what system shall we have recourse? Sell 
government seems to be the key for the solution of the problem. 
With the motto "nothing without labor" the young unfortunate 
is transferred from the gutter, which is sometimes purer than 
his home, to the freedom of the country farm, where, under the 
guidance of helpers, he learns, with his companions from the 
submerged strata, how to meet the problems of life in a fair and 
honoraljle manner. To the observer the system may seem an 
interesting experiment, but to tlie child it is a serious matter, and 
in his court, church, and school, as well as in his wage earning 
and spending, he meets problems with a manly and intelligent 
adjustment. In those boys whom the world may count "good 

85 



86 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

for nothing" the college man with his broad sympathy sees a hope- 
ful future, when transferred to an atmosphere of possibility. 
The future of the submerged tenth has in it, the transformation 
of its juvenile element, and in this work no college man need be 
ashamed to lend his hand, heart, and mind. — The Lafayette. 



WELCOME, SCHOLASTICS ! 

The students of the University of Montana do not welcome 
you to their University. They welcome you to your University 
— the University of the People of Montana. 

This institution is the property of no one man or set of men. 
It is ours. It is yours. 

The affairs of the University have often been manipulated 
and machinated by a few men. These men were not working 
for the people of the state. They were working for the people 
of a section of a state. They have served sordid interests by re- 
tarding the natural development of the people's best educational 
servant. 

The University is small, yet it is destined to become great. 
Montana will be one of the greatest states in the Union a cen- 
tury hence. Then will her University be the greatest. It may 
not become the largest, but it will be the greatest. 

The University has attracted you here. The University has 
attracted us here. We are the pride of the state. We are the men 
and women who will some day make this state the greatest one. 
As graduates, our names and reputations will add glory to the 
University of Montana. 

Your University greets you to-day. Your stay here may be 
short this time. She hopes you will return some day to aid 
in her development. 

Her students greet you as fellow Montanans. They love this 
University. They love all that is hers. They work for her. 
They fight for her. 

You, too, must love her. You must work for her; you must 
fight for her. She is yours ; you are hers. — The Weekly Kaimin, 
University of Montana. 



THE DRINK QUESTION 

The vain attempt of that intangible offspring of the undergrad- 
uate mind called Public Opinion to arrive at any definite con- 
clusion on the general subject of drinking in Princeton, reminds 
us of an idea suggested by Edgar Allen Poe in one of his liter- 
ary criticisms, to the effect, that, in one case out of a hundred, 
a point is excessively discussed because it is obscure ; that in the 
ninety-nine remaining it is obscure because excessively discussed. 
In this instance Public Opinion does not stand solus but is inextri- 
cably enveloped among the ninety-nine. 

The existence of a broad and enlightened Public Opinion— 
the phrase a bromide, and the ingredients usually but platitudes— 
upon any topic is a rarity. When supposedly formulated by a 
body of men of different tastes, ideals, religions and standards 
of life upon the subject of drinking, it is a nullity. Selfishness 
hidden behind an inert theory of laissez-faire on the one hand, 
prejudice and the lack of a broad sympathy on the other, and 
a distortion of facts on all, can only create an intellectual chaos. 
To call the various opinions intelligent would be flattery, as the 
undergraduates who take a really thoughtful attitude toward any 
serious problems of life are members of a minority that Bernard 
Shaw would no doubt term a monstrosity. 

No one, inveterate drunkards least of all, would have the 
hardihood to declare that drinking was under any circumstances 
an advantageous practice. Granting this hypothesis, it certainly 
follows that the use of alchoholic stimulants is not a desirable 
habit to form. Some dull exponents of high ideals unwittingly 
seek the solution in prohibition. They forget that prohibition 
is about on a par with pretzels as a producer of thirst. Others 
more enlightened urge education as the true panacea. Their pro- 
gram is to teach young men that alcohol impairs their muscular 
efficiency, destroys their chances for success, and retards their 
development. The method is sound and in innumerable cases 
effective. But unhappily the intoxication of youth is wont very 

87 



88 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

often to rush over the bounds set by the dictates of pure reason. 
Indiscretion and youth are practical synonyms. 

Jack London, who cannot even be accused of temperance, in 
his John Barleycorn, advances as the reason for excessive drink- 
ing the fact that liquor is so easy to get. The bars are open, 
a man's friends are drinking — why not? It is a reasonable as- 
sumption. The true way to curtail drinking would be to make 
liquor hard to get without total prohibition. No such medium 
could be put into force in a large city. Yet it is possible in a 
college community like Princeton, where the majority of men 
are minors. It is thus that the Princetonian interprets Dean 
McClenahan's policy. 

The college authorities forbid no one to drink. They recognize 
the utter fallacy of such a method of procedure. Instead a strict 
enforcement of the New Jersey law in regard to selling liquor to 
minors is insisted upon. As a result the minors who drink in 
Princeton are about as rare as the proverbial amphibious animal 
who cannot live on land and dies in the water. But what of the 
men who leave Princeton to drink?' is the natural counter-argu- 
ment. In the first place the parental and scholastic surveillance 
under which the verdant age of most young men is spent has 
been sufficiently strict to have kept the majority from drinking 
prior to entering college. These are the men who never intended 
to drink, but were led into it somehow or other, usually through 
the easy route. They will have no temptation to leave Princeton. 
The second class are the men who had already tasted the ex- 
citement of a "party" upon entering college. Some will be de- 
terred from leaving town because it is too much trouble and not 
worth while ; others through financial and curriculum difficulties ; 
others will undoubtedly organize exotic drinking parties from 
time to time — but that has been done before. The whole situation 
is then resolved into the question : Will the increase — if there be 
an increase — of the number of undergraduates who leave Prince- 
ton to drink, added to the more serious consequences that such 
drinking might entail, outweigh, in harm done the undergradu- 
ates as a whole and through them Princeton, the increased number 
of men who would form the habit of drinking in Princeton if 
there was general admittance to the bars? 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 89 

The Princetonian agrees with Dean McCIenahan that it would 
not. 

One thing is certain which has as yet not made itself heard 
above the uproar of (Hscordant voices formulating Public Opinion 
by attempting "de nier ce qui est et d' expliqucr se qui n' est pas," 
and that is, "Ce qui n' est pas" should under no conditions mean 
Class dinners. There will be no doubt an equitaljle adjustment 
under which Class dinners may be held after Christmas. — The 
Daily Princetonian. 



BEGINNINGS 

Let us 'ci'atch well our beginnings, and results zvill manage 
themselves. — Aliix. Clark. 

There is a true story extant of an undergraduate, who, on 
the eve of ''Block Week," was asked what he was going to do 
that night. The men around had been bewailing the fact that 
they would have to stay up all night "bucking," and what was their 
surprise when he said. "I'm going to the Star. Nothing to-mor- 
row but exams." He "hit" the finals, too. 

Then there is the man whose work seems to become easier as 
the term progresses. He was almost a "grind" for the first month, 
but at the end of the semester he sails smoothly along near the 
head of the class with a moderate amount of work. 

How do they do it. It is merely a matter of beginning right. 
Get the first lesson, really get it. Work three hours on it. Work 
two and three quarters hours on the second, two and a half on the 
third and soon you will be doing each day's assignment in an hour 
or less. Take mathematics. If you have the fundamentals right 
you are safe; if you do not understand them you are lost. In 
languages, if you do not have the pn^nunciation and the funda- 
mental rules, you w ill flounder along all year. A good beginning 
is half the battle. 

A revised version of our text, applicable to university condi- 
tions would be: "Let us watch well our i)rei)aration, and exams 
will manage themeselves." — The Cornell Sim. 



'rill': ART ( )i' Lia rukiNc; 

ill view of llic fad that lecturing; coiislilulcs such a large part 
of the business of university professors, the mere undergraduate 
is often forced to wonder why many do not learn to do it better. 

The whole concern of the teacher is with his thouglits and his 
knowledge, as llial of (he geulK'iiian is with his clothes; and he 
should l(\'ini lo wear them as gracefully. We might justly 
expecl iiiiii to he as {jrolicient in the expression of sound infor- 
mation and of ile<hulions not wholly platitudinous as the man 
of the world is in the exhibition of good Ijreeding and cultivated 
taste. If the mind of the one were as polished as the manners 
of ilie otluT, no vocal or ])hvsi(al (K-lu-iencies would prevent him 
from impressing upon his classes his real personality and in- 
spiration, lie would neither be trite nor ])lume himself upon 
a supeirn-jal sbri'wdness and glilter in learned observations; he 
would have an unalfeclt'd desire to im])art his meaning, and if 
habitual stu<ly made him abstracted, this "air of books" he 
would shake off like a dicam bifore I be waiinth of an appealing 
truth, whose signilicant'c be desiri'd lo bring home to the most 
K'lhargic auditor. 

b'or Ibc weak insliuctor behind bis desk, droning over a dusty 
book of the selfsame notes that ten years ago saw service in the 
selfsame comsi", lime passes much more quickly than for the 
studiiil in I be sv:\\ before him. For the most part he offers a 
mere eollalion from llu- various majoi' publications upon thc^ 
mallei" in hand, welded together in a thin matri.x of transitions 
and comments from bis own pen, and with the dreariness and in- 
sipidity of Ibe wboir ri'lie\c'd by more or less irrelevant anecdotes, 
obviously dragged in to serve as oases in the otherwise insu])- 
porlabU- barrenness. Tlis supi)ort for solidity is upon facts which 
are tin- common propt-rly of ;dl real seaicbers into the subject ; 
his support for i-nteitainmcnt, as a substitute for geiuiine in- 
terest, is upon inanely incidental stories. Of that suggestive 
inslruilion wbicb leads sindi-nts step by step into the delights of 
a new lield, ;md points out in ;my topic bilbeilo unseen relations 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 91 

to many oilier topics, establishing a dozen ])()iiils of tontael be- 
tween new and old interests, he knows nothing,'; and be lares 
notiiing about exbibiliiij^^ llutse traits of individuality which made 
Garlicld see in Mark llti|ikins, seated upon a log, all the essen- 
tials of a great university. 

"Jt is thus," says a IMiiiceton senior, "that our lecturers talk 
to us. rile professor enteis (be room and begins sjjcaking 
loudly in order to be heard above the noise, '(Jentlemcn, this 
morning 1 wish to take up the subject treated in the ah' — 
(refers to notes, — 'ah, twenty-second chapter of the ab, llallo- 
wcll. "riic principle here laid down by I lallowell is that the 
exegesis of metempsychosis is correlative to the corresponding 
strata of the discrete consciousness. Ah, on the other hand this 
theory was attacked on ibc subjective side by the great au- 
thority, Zink, who said, ah'-- (refers to notes)^ — -'by the great 
authority Zink, who said, ah' — (runs through several pages of 
notes to fmd what Zink said. Finds the place and continues.) 
'The great authority, Zink, who was a (lerman, and one of the 
greatest authorities on this subject. Me died in 1H43, at Prague, 
where there is a moimmcnt 70 feet in height, situated in the 
|)ublic scpiare, to commemorate the fact that he was one of the 
very greatest authorities on this subject. An interesting anecdote 
that will possibly i)ring him closer to you is told to illustrate 
his extreme absence of mind.' And so he goes on, ad inlinitnm, 
sic ad nauseam, until an hour has passed." 

There are enough analogues to this Trinceton teacher at 
Illinois to convince us (bat such a description is not wholly 
fanical. — The Daily lUini. 



THE PLUGGER 

The ancient saw runs "A day in the Michaelmas term is 
worth two in the Easter session," and as the University is now 
well into its yearly stride, we might venture a word or two on 
the moot question of study. The wise ones will attend at least 
fairly diligently to work every day, and thus will escape the 
heavy "grind" at the end necessitated by early neglect. This 
reminds us that certain students, who mayhap are not painfully 
brilliant, and who often are earnestly striving to make the best 
of their opportunities (for, after all, football is not the chief 
end of a University course), are often scornfully termed "plug- 
gers" by certain vanity-choked, supermen among their fellows. 

These individuals of the pyrotechnic intellect can discover no 
good in the pluggcr, and predict but mediocrity as his life por- 
tion. This view is very universal and very old ; it is also very 
silly. While we decidedly do not advocate study to the exclu- 
sion of every other interest, yet all maxims and examples urge 
steady work and rebuke fitful, firefly efl:"orts. The student who is 
not asiiamcd to be seen mentally drilling, who can be respectable 
and rule-keeping without being unctuously virtuous, may be 
derided as a "plugger" ; but he perceives the real reason for his 
being at college, and he wisely is anticipating the "one dem'd, 
horrid grind" which continues after school years are finished. 

High-browed brilliancy will not burn away opposition as ef- 
fectively as will continual fire; pretty effervescent waters will 
not force the way as clearly as the headlong torrent. Remember, 
we do not mean to encourage the merely foolish plugger who 
memorizes always and reflects never. He is a calculating ma- 
chine without the accuracy. Every one pities him and under- 
stands when he draws a blank in the lottery of life. He is 
consuming his years by ceaselessly polishing a firebrick, and 
trying to impart a lustre to it. 

But he is an extraordinary sort. The garden variety of 
plugger is capable of immense development. Go to it ! Let the 
superficially trained egotist poke fun at your labor. He, be sure, 
will return four or five mouldy and stunted talents. Let your 

92 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 93 

one or two be thriving at least. Join the sensible plugger band and 
what you study will stick to the ribs of your intellect. Let the 
scoffer go for ten years — and then make comparisons.- — The 
Varsity, University of Toronto. 

THE FRATERNITY CHOICE 

At the stroke of ten to-night, the freshman gives the decision 
which largely determines the particular kind of college influence 
which he is to enjoy. No other influence in college is so close 
or permeating. The college gives environment ; the classroom 
gives knowledge; activities give training; but to all of these the 
fraternity gives distinction and color. It is not a specific but a 
general influence which modifies all others. 

Fraternity influence is no more indispensable than cream in 
coffee ; but when either is added, it changes the nature of the 
original. And the nature of the freshman will be very largely 
influenced by the ideals of the fraternity he joins. 

At the beginning of each year, fraternities to many men seem 
as much alike as soldiers in a line ; for neither the fraternity 
nor the soldier present individuality to the uninformed observer. 
Yet fraternities have personalities as distinct as persons. A fra- 
ternity whose life is integrated has a distinct manner, a persisting 
standard, an ideal consistently followed, the composite effect of 
which, becoming inherent in its members, is a life possession. 

The fact that fraternities are as distinct as persons implies 
a difference sufficient to induce careful choice. Fraternity life 
in the wrong fraternity is worse than no fraternity life at all, 
for as Bacon says in his essay on "Friendship," "a crowd is not 
company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures, and talk but 
a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love." That no man should 
yield to glamor in which he will not be congenial, is a truth 
which many learn too late. He who seeks true fraternity satis- 
faction will not be deceived by the illusion of fine house, and 
college honors. They may represent no more than an elegant but 
friendless office-building. He will, rather, choose the fraternity 
whose spirit is closest, most congenial to his own. 

Success and happiness most certainly do not depend upon 
making a fraternity. P>ut if a choice is to be made at all. it 
should be the right choice. — The Dartmouth. 



THE NEW DANCES 

Many of those who have attended recent University dances 
declare that there is a growing tendency to go to extremes. 
There is no question but that many dancers forget themselves 
and so deport themselves on the floor as to excite undue com- 
ment. The editor of the Daily News is not willing to look for 
bad in everything; he believes that the worst evils connected 
with the ultra-modern tango and similar dances is the gossip 
connected with them, the inevitable imputation of evil. If we, 
all of us, stop looking for evidences of salaciousness, in our 
dances, but regard them as the spontaneous, natural expression of 
society, the "spice" would at once be taken from these dances. 
You can't very well compromise on this dancing proposition: 
dancing is either immoral or it is not. To select any one dance 
and make it the "goat" is not a sound position. Let us forget 
some of our prudishness, refuse to be delightfully shocked when 
a dancer holds his partner unorthodoxically close, stop all argu- 
ment regarding the relative morality of the tango and the waltz, 
and give the whole proposition an opportunity to work itself out 
naturally. You cannot cram dancing reforms down society, for 
dances are an expression of society itself. If we run a riot of 
ugly dancing for a season, it is more than likely that society will 
become surfeited only the sooner and resume more normal dances. 
But to tell the student he must not tango is like telling Johnny he 
must not play with matches. The tango is a bad dance only 
when we tell somebody he must not dance it, and he then goes 
and dances it. 

It is not the purpose of the writer to defend the dance as it 
is danced in many cases. He believes that many are ugly ex- 
hibitions, mere prostitutions of music. But the fault does not 
He with the dance ; not by a long shot. The evil, if there is any, 
is more fundamental. You and I, all of us, are the dance. If 
we ourselves are "rotten" our dances will reflect ourselves ac- 
cordingly. It isn't the tango that is bad, but we, the student 
body. And most of us have lOO per cent more respect for the 

94 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 95 

man or the woman who tangoes unblushingly than for those smug, 
hypocritical followers of Madame Grundy who would like to 
tango, but who prefer to pose as the censors of society. Let 
us be natural and sincere and this dance question will be devoid 
of hypocrisy, at least. — The IVisconsin Daily News. 



PROFESSOR AXSON'S RESIGNATION 

It is impossible for us in any adequate degree to express the 
profound sorrow with which Professor Stockton Axson's resig- 
nation as professor of English has affected us. The news came as 
a distinct surprise. Closely allied as he has been for fourteen 
years with the best interests of Princeton and Princeton men, 
we cannot conceive of our University without him. 

To Princeton men Mr. Axson typifies the ideal professor ; an 
inspiration in our English courses, a warm sympathetic friend 
and counseler — a man who has found the best things of this life, 
and whose pleasure it always has seemed was the imparting of 
this secret to his students. No other man has been able to inspire 
us with the great moral truths of existence to such a marked 
extent as he. No other man has been able to stimulate in his 
students such desire for work, such pleasure in that work, and 
such genuine enthusiasm for literature, for reading, and for all 
those finer pursuits of the mind which are included in the word 
Culture. 

One of the needs of the University education to-day is a 
closer correlation between students and Faculty. Undergraduates 
admire above everything else a man, and the popularity based 
upon the charm and power of a refined personality, as in the 
case of Professor Axson, is the greatest honor that they can 
bestow. Education needs more men of the Axson stamp ; Prince- 
ton cannot do with fewer. Mr. Axson holds a peculiar place in 
the affections of Princeton men that no one else can fill. 

The following words, written for a book and ascribed to the 
President of the United States, most admirably sum up our 
appreciation : "To Stockton Axson. By every gift of mind a 
critic; by every gift of soul a friend." — The Daily Princctonian. 



SOCIAL SERVICE 

Educational pessimists who have regarded themselves as 
voices crying in the wilderness find a hopeful sign in the interest 
being manifested by the college youth of the nation in the new 
extracurricular science of social service. Education, it is argued, 
is being humanized, socialized; its learning and training is being 
turned into channels of civic usefulness. And well may we praise 
the attitude that undergraduates are now assuming toward the 
state and society. A recent issue of a northern college daily 
carries an editorial outlining and commending the work ac- 
complished by students in this field of social activity. But, 
strange to say, the University of Virginia is not even favored 
with mention in this running summary of the social service 
work at the various institutions. We can attribute this sin of 
omission not to the ill-will but to the ignorance of the editor. 

The study of the negro question prosecuted by the student 
committees last session was the most successful as it was the 
most ambitious program attempted by any group of university 
students during the collegiate year. The students in the northern 
institutions have their slumming expeditions ; under the tutelage 
of a professor, they make isolated visits or investigation tours to 
the ghettoes, the jails, the houses of correction. The impres- 
sions that they receive and the information that they gather in 
this way will serve well to equip the student for future citizenship. 

But the social work of the Virginia students last year was of 
a more substantial, useful character. Our fathers ate sour grapes 
and their children's teeth are set on edge. We are paying the 
penalty of the institution of slavery. We have in our midst 
some twelve million negroes most of whom are illiterates, delin- 
quents and dependents. Their presence combined with their 
deficiencies creates a great problem, the real problem of the 
century for the South. Those who are trusted with leadership 
have chosen a definite line of conduct in dealing with the ques- 
tion. They have committed us to this choice. The relation that 

96 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 97 

must obtain between the advanced and the backward race is 
one of social adjustment. — College Topics, University of Virginia. 

THE GRIND 

Poor deaf, bhnd creature, you are our victim to-day. We want 
to try to pry open your eyeHds that you may see the possibiHtic: 
in your work. We desire that you hear the sounds of the living 
world about you. 

The grind has one conspicuous merit, in that (unlike the mark 
seeker) he is sincere in his devotion to study. Like the mark 
seeker, he is often ambitious for Phi Beta Kappa or Senior 
Honors. He seeks these, however, not as a satisfaction to his 
vanity but rather because they represent achievement in study. 
The grind deserves our pity rather than our contempt, for his is 
a case of misguided zeal and effort. 

He works like a Trojan in his courses. His themes are always 
handed in on time, his outside reading is promptly done. He 
devours the textbooks from cover to cover. He takes almost 
verbatim notes on lectures and then commits these notes to mem- 
ory. Wlien called upon to recite, he pours forth the contents of 
the book and then stops. When he writes a quiz or exam, he 
usually gets a high mark, for the professor cannot well take ex- 
ception to a recital of his own words. At the end of his course 
the grind often lands Phi Beta or Senior Honors, by the sheer 
force of his high marks. 

What has he obtained from his university course? Only a well- 
trained memory and a mass of useless facts. He has lost the 
entire significance of education, for its chief aim is the liberal- 
izing of the individual. He has failed to realize that mere 
knowledge is worthless, that it becomes valuable only when ap- 
plied to life. His knowledge is a jumble of uncorrelated mean- 
ingless facts. He has lived with his eyes glued to a book and 
with his ears closed against the sounds of life. Furthermore, 
he has not learned to think. It never occurs to the grind to ques- 
tion the opinions of a book or a professor. His mind is a mere 
storehouse for the ideas of others. 

Thus unequiiii:)ed, without personality, thinking power and 
originality, the grind goes out into the world. What wonder that 
he usually makes a failure of his life. — JJ'iscoiisin Daily Cardinal. 



THE DIABOLICAL IDIOCY OF FINAL EXAMINATIONS 

There was enacted at the University infirmary yesterday after- 
noon a scene which cannot but be construed as an argument of 
burning intensity against the system of final examinations — the 
departure from the Infirmary and from Cornell of a man in the 
prime of youthful strength and vigor, his nerves shattered, in- 
jured perhaps for life as the result of a three weeks' strain of 
preparation and trial of final examinations. It is not the first 
scene of this character, nor will it be the last until the unhealthy 
unfair, and altogether unwholesome system of final examinations 
is done away with. 

The argument for a system of University classroom grading 
which will settle the destiny of every man on his actual classroom 
record — the record of a term instead of a day — have been re- 
peated ad infinitum. To the authorities of Sibley College, their 
justice has appealed, but in the other colleges, particularly Law, 
Arts and Civil Engineering, much of the term's success or failure 
depends upon a final examination and to these colleges, we can 
but say, "How long, how long?" 

The average freshman who enters the university from pre- 
paratory school, and whose head is not turned by the lack of 
home or school restraints or by the lures of fraternity house ease, 
works, and works hard, earnestly and consistently. But there are 
always those who are wise beyond their University age, and 
the undercurrent of advice of these, and of the men who have 
formed the "final examination habit" during their longer resi- 
dence in the University, may be expressed by "Never mind if 
you are down in your work — the final will save you." 

And here another picture comes before us, the halls and 
study rooms of Mr. Sturgis' School for the Feeble Minded, and 
the days which precede it — rooms crowded to their utmost 
capacity and a hundred or so sponge-like brains soaking in 
knowledge ready for the examination day squeezing on the mor- 
row. And we maintain emphatically that such a scene is by no 
means the result of laziness or natural procrastination alone, 

98 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 99 

but the result of a system the very scheme of which encourages 
the postponement of work, the eleventh-hour study which breaks 
the nerves and shatters the health of men who, under sane 
intellectual systems might be made into students in the better 
sense of the word. 

We make no plea for the loafer. We ask no pity or considera- 
tion of the man whose very purpose in college is to escape 
work, and who toils unceasingly to avoid labor. We believe 
rather that a wholesome system of class grading which does 
away with the final examination, and puts the emphasis of value 
on each day's work will produce better students and better men, 
and raise the standard of college work all along the line. But 
for a system, the main feature of which is a temptation to 
procrastination ; a system which has resulted entirely in the 
formation of that brain-pail habit by which many a student fills 
his brain with knowledge as he would a pail, ready to pour forth 
on examination day ; a system which to many a thorough but 
nervously inclined student, has resulted in permanent injury; 
we can see no excuse. And just so long as such a system of 
examinations is continued, just so long will the general academic 
average of the American college and university remain at the 
low mark where it stands to-day. — Cornell Sim. 

TULANE MEN, IS IT TRUE? 

There appeared in one of the New Orleans afternoon papers 
an editorial in which the Tulane student body was characterized 
as "quitters." It was stated that, as soon as several unfortunate 
accidents had deprived the Tulane football team of about half 
of its best men, the scrubs quit for the season and Coach Hoffman 
was unable to get together enough second string men to scrim- 
mage the Varsity. The writer went on to say that as long as such 
a spirit prevailed at Tulane we would never be winners. Quitters 
are never winners. And he is right! If Tulane men are so con- 
stituted that in the face of adversity they cannot stay zvith the 
team, but instead must lay down and quit, then indeed it is time 
for the Board of Administrators to take notice and abolish 
football, of which we are unworthy exponents. — The Tulane 
Weekly. 



A NEWS COMPETITION 

The first competition for an editorial position on this paper, 
open to the members of the Freshman Class, starts this after- 
noon. There are altogether seven such positions to be filled from 
the class of 191 7, the selection to be determined in each instance 
upon an absolute merit basis, consisting both of the work which a 
man does, and the proportionate amount of results, in the form 
of accepted "news stories," which that work brings. At least 
one man will be taken on the Board at the end of every com- 
petition, each of which runs for approximately two and a half 
months. 

All of us who are on the Board feel that we have derived very 
distinct benefits from our connection with the Princetonian. 
Naturally we are a bit prejudiced in advising prospective fresh- 
man candidates to enter our own field of undergraduate work. 
We firmly believe that there are certain valuable and lasting 
advantages to be gained from trying for the Princetonian, that 
no other phase of undergraduate life can supply. 

First and foremost, every candidate gets an intimate knowl- 
edge of all undergraduate activities, and he gets this knowledge 
at first hand, coming into contact with the men who are at the 
head of things in the University. And a man cannot come into 
contact with such men without being influenced to a great 
extent, without being broadened in many ways. We emphasize 
this point particularly at this time, for freshmen have practi- 
cally no other opportunity of getting such wide acquaintance, 
not only with the life of the campus, but witl; the members of 
the Faculty. 

Then there is another side ; the valuable instruction received 
from the work itself. It develops self-reliance, initiative, com- 
mand of language and facility of expression. It teaches a man 
how to think. Oliver Wendell Holmes once said that practically 
everyone had the same amount of brains — that the best mind 
was only a fraction of an idea ahead of the worst — the trouble 
is that most of us are such intellectual non-combatants that we 

100 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM loi 

don't use them. While a Princetonian competition does not 
necessarily charge every candidate with mental power, it cer- 
tainly helps in its way. Then there is also offered an opportunity 
for the acquaintance of the knowledge of the rudiments of journ- 
alism, limited though it he. 

Previous experience in work of a similar kind is not requisite. 
In fact it is often a draw-back. Come out with a determination 
to stick at it, and all the inherent ability that is necessary will 
uncover itself as you become interested. Real determination 
is what wins Princetonian competitions. — The Daily Princetonian. 



ON THE POLO CLUB 

The communication from the officers of the Freshman class 
published in this issue of the Crimson, transfers the responsibility 
for the disgraceful disorders at the recent 1913 class dinner 
from the class as a whole to a small body of men. These men, 
according to the report of the proprietor of the American House, 
were intoxicated when they arrived at the dinner ; and after 
assembling at their table they began the disturbance, in which 
they took the leading part. It appears that most of these men 
were members of a single freshman organization, the Polo Club. 
It is manifestly unfair that the class should bear the blame for 
an exhibition of vulgarity actually occasioned by a small number 
of distinctly non-representative men ; and in view of the pub- 
licity which has unfortunately attended the incident, it is im- 
portant that the responsibility and attendant disgrace should be 
placed where they properly belong. — The Harvard Crimson. 

[Editor's Note. — The Polo Club was a freshman organization 
that had long been rather unfavorably known. At the 1913 fresh- 
man dinner, held in a Boston hotel, there was much riotous be- 
havior, resulting in broken dishes and general scandal in the 
College and in the public press. Investigation proved that the 
Polo Club members had started the trouble by coming to the 
dinner in an inebriated condition. Steps were at once taken, 
as this editorial shows, to have the club demolished. The Crimson 
was much criticized at the time for its stand, but the thinking 
men in the clubs saw that the stand was right, and in the fall 
of the next year abolished the Polo Club.] 



THE BUSINESS OE SCUOLARSJlii' 

Critics of the American university, applying to our system 
the standards by which tliey judge Oxford, Heidelberg and 
Berlin, admire the American student for his wide range of ac- 
tivity and his diversity of interests, and then deplore the fact 
that he is not a student! The deeper ways of learning are to 
him as unplumbed wells, say the critics, but the things he does, 
even if they might profane the musty old walls of Oxford, are to 
be admired and rejoiced in. 

Scholarship — the lack of it — might be termed our natural aca- 
demic vice. In this University from two to three hundred stu- 
dents are dropped from the rolls at the end of every fall term for 
failure to pass in the minimum eight hours of work. Because 
of inability or impossible standards set by their instructors ? Not 
at all. If the minimum were four hours practically the same 
number would fail to pass. It is not inability or high standards, 
but the sudden transition from home to college life, with the 
freedom and ap])arent irresponsibility of the latter, for over 
fifty per cent of those dropped at Christmas are freshmen. The 
trouble then, according to the Faculty, is in not getting a right 
start. 

A means of remedying this situation to a great extent has been 
instituted this year, and with the coiqocration of the different 
houseclub and fraternity organizations on the campus it is hoped 
to decrease the number of unfortunates to a very few. Arrange- 
ments have been made by the recorder for the instructors of 
freshmen in all departments of the university, to forward to the 
office twice during each seiuester the records of all first year 
students in the work completed up to a given time. At the 
request of any upper division student in each club or fraternity 
house, including the women as well, the records of the freshmen 
in that organization will be furnished. Societies that take pride 
in the scholarship marks set by their members will then be in 
a position to enforce study, and in other ways warn their new 
members of imjicnding disaster. 

102 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 103 

Such a movement as this, voluntarily inaugurated by members 
of the faculty, will do much to raise the academic standing of 
the University of California. It will fix the responsibility for 
negligent freshmen where it belongs, because the juniors and 
seniors can prevent the annual horror if they will, and, in the 
end, it will give answer to the critics who call us superficial and 
our activities ephemeral.— T//r Daily Califoniian. 



"WHAT HAS HE DONE?" 

When reward for merit means social recognition for small 
undergraduate positions, it degenerates either into something 
sweetly sentimental, or into an empty mockery. Of these "fav- 
orable" positions there are, of course, many. The struggle for 
them, though pursued discreetly, is often tedious, harrowing or 
idle: sometimes it may even be blasphemous, for, they say, "a 
man may smile and smile, and be a boisterous success." This 
we doubt. But certainly there is much energy wasted, and there 
are many nervous systems half-shattered over these vain, half- 
way positions. The ill-starred adventurer who accjuires them is 
indeed pitiable, for often they, though so wildly sought, turn 
out to be entirely distasteful, to demand hours daily at menial 
work. This is not right. Positions that are not rewards in 
themselves, that do not give the incumbent some added develop- 
ment for his pains, are not to be tolerated in this free thinking 
community ; nor are undergraduates who achieve short-lived im- 
mortality by having them. Too many such life-preservers have 
been tossed to men who would otherwise drown in the social swim. 
For giving glory from such inglorious salvations the system it- 
self may be to blame. Rut the blood of maintaining and even 
encouraging these worthless offices, generally managerial or 
athletic, at the expense of matters of worth, simply because they 
lead to social fame, is on the hands of the undergraduates. — 
Yale News. 



ELIGIBILITY 

The time of year is here again when that one word "eligibiUty" 
involving, as it often does, in all its apparent simplicity, vast 
and momentous problems to be solved, perplexed and troubled 
brows on the faces of the managers and coaches ; long weary 
hours of grinding to pass some missed examination, and a hun- 
dred kindred evils, is being passed from lip to lip on the campus 
and field, as well as in the classroom. The question is being 
asked, 'Ts this man eligible; if he isn't eligible, is there any 
chance of his getting eligible?" 

We do not desire to comment at this time in regard to the 
men who, at the present time, are ineligible and who are so 
barred from participating in any athletic contest until such in- 
eligibility has been removed. This is a condition which seems 
bound to exist in spite of every effort to avoid it. 

We deem it more timely to say a word of warning to those 
who anticipate going out for any athletics later in the year, and 
to freshmen more particularly to keep eligible. Now is the time 
to apply the remedy for this evil which is the greatest menace 
to the success of college athletics everywhere. The remedy is 
simple, — work hard during the time you are not engaged in 
athletics and do not get behind. But this is of practically little 
value to you or to the sport which is weakened by your absence, 
after you are ineligible. A much more bitter dose must then be 
applied, and this remedy is often too late and without effect. 

We then make this appeal to you. Exert your utmost energies 
to keep eligible. You owe it to yourself, your coach, your fellow- 
students and to your Alma Mater. To you men who are not 
engaged in athletics, we would also say, — do your best to help your 
fraternity brother, your classmate, your friend, to get eligible 
and likewise help him to stay eligible. Your influence and assist- 
ance may perhaps be the means of making some man eligible, 
and he may be the very player who scores the winning runs or 
points in some important contest. Don't forget that many games 
are often won by the conditions and influences exerted by those 

i04 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 105 

other than the members of the team. Let every man, both ath- 
letes and non-athleses, do all within his power toward lessening 
this mighty obstacle which is the most feared enemy of college 
athletics. — Syracuse Daily Orange. 

HONOR IN EXAMINATIONS 

The necessity in examinations is not dependent upon the adop- 
tion of an "honor system." Honor is impelled upon every person, 
not by some external form, but by the inner requisites of mor- 
ality and truth. Honor is ethically indispensable. 

The fact that the "honor system" has not yet been formally 
adopted by the faculty, detracts not one iota from the need for 
honorable conduct in examinations. Students have been known 
to argue that inasmuch as the "honor system" has not yet been put 
into formal operation in the University, therefore, the obligation 
to honor in examinations is not as great as it would be if we 
were under the "honor system," and required to make the written 
statement that we had neither received nor given help. This 
argument rests on no higher assumption than that a person is 
justified in practicing dishonesty if he can do it without being 
found out. Shrewdness and ability to deceive can never condone 
fraudulence. 

Every student in this University is under as much necessity 
and obligation for honorable procedure in examinations this 
morning as can possibly exist. Whether or not an "honor system" 
has been applied and authorized in a formal way has no bearing 
whatsoever upon this obligation. It is a moral obligation, and 
as such, is not subject to addition or subtraction. 

Now the Daily Orange does not wish to be understood, from 
the above exposition, as opposing the adoption of an honor 
system. We believe in the honor system and have confidence that 
it will come to Syracuse in the process of time and development. 
As a matter of discipline — yes, we may say as a matter of in- 
spiration — an honor system is needed. It is needed for those 
students who would not be honorable without it. It is needed 
because conditions at Syracuse, as at every human institution, 
are not ideal or Utopian. The honor system is a necessity for 
our weaker brothers and sisters. — Syracuse Daily Orange. 



WHAT WILL BE DONE? 

What will the Y. M. C. A. do this year? Will it go its cus- 
tomary rounds and settle down into a comfortable "self-com- 
placency," or will it see the needs at Haverford and strain every 
nerve to meet them? Certainly, if asleep, it should be roused, 
if for no other reason than to read the "Inside of the Cup" — 
collectively. How about our precious goblet? Is its inner 
surface as clean as it might be? 

We do not wish to speak harshly of the Y. M. C. A., nor 
do we intend to evade the point. There are certain very definite 
needs in this college which the Y. M. C. A. can meet if it is so 
inclined. The first is that of acclimating the freshmen into the 
vagaries of college life so that they will be benefited, and not 
fall l)y the wayside. We have no criticism of the Association in 
this field. The second need is one almost as easy to meet. The 
necessity of having some organized method of interesting fellows 
in work outside of themselves. This does not apply to those 
already loaded with college duties of varied kinds, but to men who, 
unless teaching Italians English or saving lost souls in Preston, 
will tend to grow exclusively unto themselves. Growth unto 
yourself violates a social law. The third demand is even more 
difficult to meet than the second. It is that which requires the 
life of every man at Haverford to be touched and finally pushed 
— driven if you please — by a vital, forceful religious experience. 
Whether the Association can do this, is a question. Certainly 
this pillar of our church should be repapered if not replastered. 
or removed and one seven times stronger put in its place. Finally, 
the most difficult thing of all is the need of appropriate appli- 
cation of religious energy. After creating a sacred cyclone, just 
what barns must lose a roof? A man touched by the above- 
mentioned regenerating force could not but urge the Student 
Council to vigorous and timely action when in the throes of a 
"ticklish situation." He could not but be actively concerned that 
bread throwing should cease in the dining room. He could not 
be vindictively loud against all use of spirituous liquors upon the 

io6 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 107 

college grounds. These four needs are merely a few from a 
hundred odd. There is ample opportunity if the Y. M. C. A. 
quietly, actively, very energetically gets busy. 

Of course it must be remembered that the Kingdom does not, 
like a mushroom, grow in a night time. The Y. M. C. A., never- 
theless, has been placed in our midst, possibly divinely, for no 
other purpose than to aid the steps of the right and badger the 
steps of the wrong. One attitude they must avoid, the concep- 
tion that quotes : 

"For those that rest in peace 'tis well ; 

The rest, they may be dammed. 
There's plenty of room for them in Hell. 

We shan't have Heaven crammed." 

From an outside point of view this must not be absolutely 
a part of this year's administration. We feel sure that is will not 
be. Just what will happen we do not know. We are not with 
Saul amongst the prophets. Certainly if the outcome is the 
cultivation of a real, vital, constructive spirit, of Christ's pattern, 
it has our moral support. — The Havcrford College Weekly. 



LIBRARY CLOCK PHILOSOPHY 

We noticed a clock in the library the other day. This partic- 
ular clock was not running. It appeared to be an efficient clock ; 
it had the inner mechanism ; it had a compact and practical look- 
ing exterior. Nothing seemed to be lacking, and yet the clock 
was not performing its function. So is it with some students, 
they possess the mental mechanism, their appearance and bearing 
promises much, and yet they fail to perform their functions. 
Just as the clock is patiently awaiting the time when someone 
will set in motion its inner mechanism, transforming it from a 
useless decoration into an uncertain timepiece, so are they waiting 
for someone to force activity upon them, to feed them pre- 
assimilated knowledge, and transform them from complacent 
idlers into reluctant students. — The Oherlin Review. 



TlUl (3NE YEAR RULE 

The progressive and expansive policies encouraged in this 
college for the last decade, have been especially significant, not 
only for their intensity, but also for the far-reaching effects 
they have had throughout the state. Hand in hand with the 
maturing of the institution, our athletics have made rapid strides 
forward — so rapid, in fact, that to-day, in athletic capacity, we 
are not in the same class with some of our former rivals. In order 
to make effects of growth and progress lasting, however, they 
must have the proper reception, and perfect enviroment. What 
would appear to be more necessary, as an athletic stimulus, than 
the One Year Rule, which the sister institutions in our class 
have already fostered for an appreciable time? 

The One Year Rule generally provides : that all students 
entertaining an institution shall have attained a one year's resi- 
dence in the same, before they shall be deemed eligible to play 
on varsity teams. This bars all freshmen, and all new men from 
playing on varsity teams for the period of one year. The fact 
that such institutions as Cornell, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, 
Columbia, Pennsylvania, and most of the larger institutions have 
seen fit to ui)hold this law, probably speaks more in its favor than 
anything else. 

The present athletic status of our institution warrants and 
practically demands, that this rule be ado])ted — not to go into 
effect immediately, for that would be too sudden, but to be en- 
forced from the fall of 1914 on. 

It has been asserted by people who know, that the failure of 
Penn State to obtain more games with universities and colleges 
of her class, and to obtain recognition on Camp's All American 
Team, was due to a great extent, to the absence of the One 
Year Rule. 

It might be asserted by an opponent to the One Year Rule, that 
Penn State is not ready for it — that it has not always succeeded 
where tried, and that the strength of the teams would be im- 
paired. In answer to those statements it might be said that, if 

108 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 109 

we can beat such institutions as Cornell and Pennsylvania, which 
have this rule, we at least should be ready for the same. The 
rule has met with failure only in small institutions where the 
material was very scarce. The strength of the team would not 
be affected, because the percentage of freshmen on varsity teams 
is small. At the same time the good men would have a chance 
to play for three years, or possibly four, after their required 
residence ; those who would not stay longer than one year, are 
not desirable from an athletic standpoint. 

If this proposition is seriously considered, it will readily be 
apparent that what we need in this institution is the rule which 
provides for a one year's residence to obtain eligibility for varsity 
teams. Last year progressive amendments were passed. Let us 
this year benefit our Alma Mater by passing the One Year Rule 
by a unanimous vote. — The Pcnn State Collegian. 



FORETHOUGHT 

When an army pack-mule is being loaded for an expedition, 
his eyes are covered and as great a burden is lashed on his 
back as he can carry. The only difference between this patient 
beast and a certain number of undergraduates is that the mule 
is blindfolded. Every man ought to know when his load is 
heavy enough, just as he should have the good sense to refuse 
an excessive one. Unfortunately, many forget that every election 
gained, every competition won, every appointment received means 
work in the future. To the man who picks and chooses among 
the positions open to him, comes an adequate, reasonal)le herit- 
age of interesting pursuits, which he has selected to suit his taste 
and ability. To the climber, the office-seeker or the thought- 
less one, comes unsuital)le, uninteresting labor, late hours, and 
neglect of the curriculum. 

It is among men of the latter type that we find the treasurer 
who never made out a check, the cotillion leader who never 
attended a dance, and the manager who never could keep his 
own accounts straight — a condition that can be remedied only by 
the exercise of discrimination by those who have the power to 
give offices and by those who receive them. — Yale Ne7vs. 



OUR OPPOSITION TO ATHLETICS 

Believing that the generaHzation concerning the intercollegiate 
athletics in the last few issues of The Daily Maroon demand 
greater application, The Daily Maroon wishes to state its position 
on the matter. The Daily Maroon is opposed to intercollegiate 
athletics as they are conducted at present, on the same grounds 
that it is opposed to the entire system of student activities that 
has made the academic side of college education a mere inci- 
dental. The wild hysteria of overorganization in student activi- 
ties has reached its wildest extreme in athletics. And conditions 
have now come to the point where college students must once 
more be reminded that college exists primarily for the purpose of 
training the mind, and, that other activities are of benefit, only so 
far as they further that purpose. Otherwise hundred of thousands 
of parents are annually squandering money, and thousands of 
educators are wasting their time. The issue must be faced. And 
nowhere is remedy more necessary than in athletics. 

Not even the most enthusiastic supporter of intercollegiate 
athletics can assert that it is genuinely a student activity. It 
consists in ensnaring into college by spectacular methods students 
who have already established athletic records in preparatory 
schools. Little attempt is made to conceal the fact that these 
students enter the University largely because of the opportunity 
of exercising their athletic prowess. One per cent of the stu- 
dent body specializes in athletics, supposedly representing the 
student body, while the other 99 per cent sits on the bleachers 
and gives vent to primitive shrieks. 

Can anybody maintain that athletes can even make a pretence 
at studying when they are kept out on the field from three o'clock 
to seven and eight o'clock at night? Can a student, rising from 
a hastily eaten meal at half-past eight in the evening, be expected 
to put forth any serious intellectual efforts when he has been 
battered around on a football field from four to five hours ? And 
yet, any member of the football squad at Chicago knows that this 
is the case. 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM in 

In addition, too much athletic speciahzation for eight years — 
from the first year in high school to the last year in University — 
must and does necessarily react unfavorably on a man's physique. 
If athletics were participated in so generally by the student body 
that no small body of men would have to work from October to 
June, we could say that we have sane athletics, but not until then. 
And never will that happen until the insane desire for victory and 
championship is eliminated. And never will that come until we 
do away with the intercollegiate athletics and adopt something 
similar to the English system. 

Athletics is to-day too much of a business. Its only object 
is victory. The student cheers his team as long as it is vic- 
torious. Captain Steffen's championship team fought not a bit 
harder three years ago than did Captain Crawley's team last year. 
But last year there happened to be another team that was better 
than Chicago's, while three years ago there was none. Was 
Crawley given a gold watch? Were the members of his team 
glorified? Why not? Had they not fought so gallantly for 
Chicago ? Did they ever quit ? It is simply because they did not 
win, because they did not come back with the spoils. Such an 
attitude cannot but react upon the entire attitude of the student 
body, and such an attitude can only result in inculcating in the 
minds of young people in the formative stage, a philosophy that 
glorifies material returns as an end, irrespective of the means — 
that means "get the goods." And it is this philosophy that leads 
to the commercial and political dishonesty that furnishes work for 
the grand juries, and the Senate committees, and the jailers. 
And it is this concept of social obligation that leads students to 
leave to a few people, conduct of student activities, the aflfairs of 
the community, that will lead them later in life to leave municipal, 
state, and national affairs, and all other interests of social unity 
to a few professional politicians, while the great bulk of the 
population will lie in bovine placidity, and turn around spas- 
modically to grunt whenever it will accidently discover that it has 
been wronged. That is why college alumni to-day are not taking 
the active part in the affairs of the country they should. And 
that is why The Daily Maroon is opposed to intercollegiate com- 
petition in athletics. — The Daily Maroon, University of Chicago. 



IN WHICH WE POINT OUT TWO PITFALLS 

It is a platitude that college life is full of pitfalls. The root 
of all evil in college is supposed to be "wine, women, and song," 
and this is so popularly looked upon as the only danger to be 
guarded against in sending a son away to a university, that 
practically all of the paternal warnings bear on it. 

There are two cardinal dangers in addition to that before 
mentioned, of which a youth must beware while away at school. 
The first is loafing. The second is that of spending too much 
money. 

There is much less supervision and prodding along here than in 
a secondary school. The strong parental influence is, of course, 
absent, and university professors are not of the taskmaster type, 
inflicting small penalties for work not done, as do the teachers 
in the high school or academy. It is easy to get along for a few 
weeks without working; but things stiffen up soon, it is diffi- 
cult to catch up, and the "bust" notice comes in February. It 
is infinitely easier to do your work from day to day. 

The abuse of credit is the second peril which must be avoided. 
Competition has brought Ithaca merchants to a point where one 
can charge things to almost any amount. You say that you don't 
really need an article, that it seems expensive, and you are im- 
mediately assured that, "It's all right. You don't have to worry 
about when you pay for it." You say to yourself, "If they're 
willing to take a chance, I am," and the first thing you know 
you owe some three months' allowance downtown. Once started, 
this course gives you bills that follow you through your entire 
course. Merchants might do well to oflfer habitually a discount 
for cash and endeavor to stimulate cash sales. 

The Ithaca Journal yesterday ran an editorial headed, "Ready 
For College." The advice of an older man should never be 
disregarded, and it is on our own subject so we quote it in part. 
Talking of the boy just g'oing away, it says : 

"Does he know the dollar in the dollar, not as a part of an 
easy allowance, but as pay for hard service? Does he have his 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 113 

own principles and opinions, based not on what he assumes, 
but on what is so ; does he stand by them until he gets, not more 
pressure, but more light? Does he manage himself or will his 
mates lead him like a blindfold initiate? Is he going to college, 
as he gets up in the morning, because the time has come? Or 
does he rather go, as he takes up the bat in a ball game, because 
there is need for the best he can bring to pass? 

"Happy the father and mother whose boy is taking to college 
a careful use of money, a settled habit of self-direction, a purpose 
that will put past every by-path. He will never lead the leisure 
class nor win distinction in the night shift; but he will get what 
the college wants to give him." 

We like especially the sentence "Is he going to college, as he 
gets up in the morning, because the time has come." — Cornell Sim. 



HE CLAIMED TO BE GOD 

It is reported from Wesley Hall that one of the theologs has 
been taken home, adjudged a raving maniac. Among other 
things this unfortunate young man claimed to be God. We be- 
lieve that a lunacy commission could find many other crazy 
theologs, not only in this particular divinity school but in all 
others. Of all work, that of the divine minister should be 
broadening. His field is the world. Unfortunately the majority 
of them are not broad in any sense. They have a mistaken idea 
that study is the whole thing. Who respects a narrow, glass-eyed, 
cracked voiced preacher. After having overtaxed his strength, 
he generally "sees through a glass darkly." Hard work, such 
as is indulged in by many of the members of such schools, is 
ruinous. To minister is their duty. To mix is essential. All 
work and no play makes Jack Theolog a dull boy. Come out 
of the dark hole into the shining light of God's creation. Gather 
the harvest instead of always tearing up the reaper. The priest's 
life in the olden monastery furnished more satisfaction to him- 
self. He was social, for he would drink his Rhenish wine. 
Brother Theolog, come out of it. With a hop, skip and jump 
turn a somerset, give three whoops and live ! — The Hustler, 
Vanderbilt University. 



STATUS OF TECHNICAL COURSES 

Eldridge Wheeler, the newly appointed regent, pleased not a 
few of us when he said that he looked most favorahly upon the 
technical courses taught in the State University, and that he 
would like to see more instruction given similar to that offered by 
the school of forestry, the school of education and the school of 
mines. 

E. W. Ferris, state forester, praises not only the school of 
forestry, but the entire university, in the report which he has 
just submitted to Governor Ernest Lister. The practical courses, 
as he calls them, or the technical courses, as he who would not 
that which is unacademic, would call them, are commended. 

Business men of the state are urging the establishment of a 
school of commerce as a part of the university. Chambers of 
commerce and commercial clubs through the state are insistent 
in their requests that courses be offered to the student which will 
fit him for some definite vocation. In other words, there is a 
demand that the college graduate possess an education that will 
place him among the ranks of trained men. 

The raising of the status of technical courses does not neces- 
sarily mean that the worth of cultural courses is diminishing. 
The value of instruction of cultural character is well under- 
stood and conceded. 

The entire educational system of this country has been com- 
pelled to adjust itself to the growth and development of society. 
People have recently protested that the high school was a col- 
lege preparatory institution and then pointed out the small per 
cent of high school graduates that entered college. Their ob- 
jections were met by reorganizing the high school. The modern 
high school of to-day is essentially a trade school. Of course, 
a student may elect such courses as he may need to meet the 
entrance requirements of a university or college. 

This demand for instruction of a more "practical" character 
has struck the university and the higher educational institution. 
In years to come we can imagine the technical character of the 

114 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 115 

instruction offered by the State University. And then there 
will be a national university where instruction of a still more 
specialized character may be obtained. 

Instruction of a cultural character has its value, but a student 
who has been fed on a diet of Latin, Greek, mathematics, Gothic 
— we will not name more — learns upon graduation that he has 
failed properly to equip himself for life's work, and has to take 
a business college course in order to be worth a living wage. — 
The University of IVashingtoti Daily. 

FRESHMAN CAPS 

The freshman caps will soon make their appearance on the 
campus and perhaps a foreword concerning them is not altogether 
out of place. The custom of wearing a cap of this sort has been 
observed in some of the larger colleges and universities for many 
years, but the custom dates back only about four years in this in- 
stitution. As the entering classes grew in size the necessity of 
some badge of recognition was felt and this custom grew out 
of the need. 

The Dartmouth three upper classes recently voted to see that 
the freshman cap rule is enforced in that institution, and the 
sophomores at Columbia University have voted to wear a uniform 
class hat. So this is not a means to humiliate the freshmen or 
to show the authority of the sophomore class, as it sometimes 
appears, but is a class distinction. 

There is nothing which the 191 5 class as a whole will do which 
will cement it together man for man any more firmly than this 
cap. Many freshmen will find classmates whom they had pre- 
viously supposed were from the upper^lasses, and the juniors 
and seniors who have few ways of meeting the lower classes 
will greet each man with this cap on as a Maine man. Some fresh- 
men meet as "frat" or "non-frat" men, some in musical clubs 
or athletic organizations, etc.. but the cap is something which 
every first year man can have in common. It is a link to bind 
him to Maine. Each man should look at the matter in this light 
— that the caj) is a recognition button for uppcrclassmen, a means 
of producing unity for his class, and a badge which any "prep" 
school man should be proud to wear as a freshman at Maine. — 
The Maine Campus. 



THE RIGHT IDEA 

Many are the benefits of a college education, but they are hard 
to define. The broadening of the intellectual realm is almost 
inperccptible to the subject, but he is aware of a widening 
horizon. The average public schoolboy looks upon a matricu- 
lant as a specimen of very highly concentrated learning, but the 
matriculant is aware of how little he really knows. He in turn 
gazes at the senior with awe and wonders how so much knowl- 
edge could be contained under a number seven hat. The budding 
baccalaureate is afraid of showing how little he knows. It all 
shows the progressivencss of the individual and the realization 
of the infinity of knowledge. Neither is conscious of much 
knowledge, but could a photograph be taken of the mind at suc- 
cessive stages, what a contrast would be shown in self-esteem. 

The common phrase "receive an education" to the people at 
home means the accumulation of knowledge from books and 
lectures; but to the student himself it has a different meaning. 
It is the means by which personality is developed, the making of 
the man, the process by which he becomes sensible to his duties. 

Can personality be evoked from outside sources — lectures, 
books, etc.? Is it not by the mastery of this knowledge and the 
adaptation of it to one's environment that personality is devel- 
oped ? Personality is the goal of education. An education can only 
be gained by work — and hard work too. As strength is received 
from assimilation of food, so too, intellectual strength can only 
come from assimiliation of knowledge. How often we meet 
among students — esi)ecially theologs — men who have a mass of 
undigested material, "a belly full of east wind of philosophy" 
but who have no steadfast position. They have imbibed freely 
from books and lectures and pour it forth as freely, devoid of 
any mark of personality. Everybody is desirous of knowledge, 
but few are willing to undergo the labor in acquiring it ; e.g. 
the union of fond memories and the library. However we are 
stimulated by the word of the sage, that it is with intellectual 
discipline as it is with the development of moral virility. A 

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COLLEGE JOURNALISM 117 

course of action done for time under a sense of moral obligation 
and as a grievous duty becomes after a time a pleasure and a joy. 
One's University career should be beneficial in disciplining and 
training the mind, — a process which leads to self-realization. 
The submission to discipline eventually changes to the love of 
knowledge. 

But of what value is an educated man to the community if he 
has not the ability to give expression to his knowledge? To be 
capable of deep perception and noble thoughts and yet be unable 
to give expression to them is an intolerable burden. The educated 
man must be able to use his own language with facility, unless 
he imparts and applies knowledge, he is useless to society. 

The object of education is to give direction to personality. 
Everyone has this power which is peculiarly adaptable to different 
environments. Each has an influence especially his own. The 
college course is intended to build up this power and draw out the 
capacity for leadership. — The Varsity. 



MORPHEUS IN CLASS 

Of course, many undergraduates fall asleep in two o'clock 
recitations because they have gorged themselves at dinner — 
even Franklin warned the people against eating to dullness. But 
this fascinating question, why people fall asleep in classes at other 
hours, remains unanswered. At times, Morpheus seduces half the 
class ; and the belated professor, if conscientious and of a good 
disposition, attempts to regain that sleeping half, by exerting a 
greater effort. This is laudable, and generally futile as growing 
sulky or indignant. An occasional course, to be sure, is anaes- 
thetically dry; so is an occasional teacher. And in such courses, 
under such instructors, a healthy, alert, and uninspired under- 
graduate cannot be blamed for a nap. But instances of this 
blameless slumber are few, and where many students sit attentive, 
slumber has transported only the unapprcciative, or the stupid. 
It is often the only escape for a feeble mind, from the misery of 
incomprehension. To l)ring such minds back from the Land of 
Nod, to pleasures and blessings past their ken, would, of course, 
be sheer brutality. — Yale Neivs. 



"CASTLES THAT FALL" 

Ambition is worthy of praise if directed toward a worthy end, 
yet how many men come to college with the idea of being some- 
body in this little world of ours, and who gradually slip back 
to lose sight of their high aim in the general storm and stress of 
college life. All is not plain sailing on the way to the goal of am- 
bition, and derelicts, so to speak, are many. A man comes to 
college, for example, with the purpose of real study. At first, 
perhaps, he does get into the spirit of things, but after a time 
pleasure lures him away, and to do enough work to just barely 
get by, is all that remains of his ambition. His little bubble has 
bursted through his own lack of will power. Again, men come to 
college with the purpose of making good in athletics. A few weeks 
of hard work and then they are on the rocks, all interest is gone, 
all ambition played out. Those sort of men are never a credit to 
a college, and are never likely to succeed in the business world, 
as success is reckoned now. Yet, how many, how many are there, 
who qualify for this class. 

To make up for all the failures, however, there are a commend- 
able number of successes. The student who comes here with 
worthy ambitions, who lives up to those ambitions in the right 
way, who works hard and does not give up when things are go- 
ing adversely, is the man who makes the reputation of any in- 
stitution, be it a college or in the business world — a man whom 
everyone respects and admires, and to whom success is not the 
mere attainment of ambition, but is the high ground from which 
he can look back and view with pride the obstacles that he has 
overcome in his forward struggle. We need more men of this 
sort — the college needs them, the business world is calling them. 
No man wants to see the castles that he has pictured for him- 
self, falling away into crumbling ruins. Force of character, 
strength of will and stick-to-it-tiveness, are attributes to be uni- 
versally sought after in this world, and once attained are of in- 
estimable value. Let us not have our castles in ruins, let us 
not allow our dreams to fade from us without their realization, 
but let us earnestly strive toward the goal we have in view, and 

118 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 119 

whether in success or failure, the knowledge that we have not 
"given up the ship" will be a source of great satisfaction to each 
one of us. Just at this time of year we begin to become lax, 
begin to allow these pictures of the mind to fade away. Now is 
the time to lay a foundation, and see to it that our plans are 
carried out to the best of our ability. — Brown Daily Herald. 

A FIELD FOR REFORM 

When brought down to a final analysis, the crime, for such 
a term is after all only too appropriate' a name to apply to the 
offense of answering to another's name during a roll call, is noth- 
ing more nor less than the deliberate telling of an intentional 
falsehood. That any college man would attempt to defend such 
a wrong, upon any other grounds than those he might employ 
in upholding any violator of the law, seems to us preposterous. 

The existence of the practice referred to is only too readily 
proved by the notorious reputation that such courses as Oriental 
loi and in the fall term Military 2B have gained in this respect. 
Examples are to be found in any college or department throughout 
the University, and furthermore, and making the matter worse, 
the actions of those who are guilty are countenanced and sanc- 
tioned by their fellow students. Human nature seems to be so 
constructed that we are very prone to overlook a great host 
of petty deceits; such are typified in the present instance by 
falsely answering "present" for your neighbor, while at the same 
time, we are only too willing to condemn in the severest manner 
possible, any attempt which may be made at outright "cribbing" 
in examinations. But both these crimes are found in the same 
category, and while perhaps differing somewhat in degree, are in 
reality but two forms of deceit, neither of which deserve the least 
defense in their behalf. 

That the former should have existed for so great a length of 
time as it has, here at California, where we take pride in extol- 
ling our personal honor system, is to be deeply regretted, but does 
not in any way serve as an excuse for its further continuance. We 
are willing to attribute it in the past, to thoughtlessness, but any 
usage of this plan in evading classes in the future, will brand 
the culprit, in our eyes at least, as belonging to the same class 
as the inveterate "cribber." — The Daily Califoniian. 



DRINKING 

There is one subject — and it is one of the most important 
questions that can arise in a man's college career — on which 
very little is said in undergraduate publications. That is the 
question of drinking. 

It is not our intention to add anything to the reams of dis- 
cussion as to whether alcohol is a poison and as to whether tee- 
totalism is better than moderation. There has been enough said 
on that subject to allow a man to decide for himself. 

What we do wish to assail most strenuously is drinking to excess 
by any undergraduate, and the formation of the drinking habit 
by freshmen because they think it is "collech." 

There is no defense for drunkenness in anyone, old or young, 
so we shall turn immediately to the freshmen. Why is it that a 
freshman seems to think that drinking has an important place 
in college life? What are the attractions of beer to one who 
has probably hardly tasted it? 

Does a man newly arrived at a University drink it just because 
he is forbidden to at home? Does he drink it because he thinks 
that he is not a real man unless he does ? Is he afraid of the 
laughter of a minority of his fellows? Does he drink it just to 
show he can? Or does he think that it will help him in his 
University work or will get him something in athletics, compe- 
tition, or socially ? 

The first four possibilities are not worth dignifying into im- 
portance by even discussing them. They merely ask : Has the 
man a will of his own? As for the last possibility, the drinker 
is at a disadvantage in almost every line of University life. How 
can it be otherwise when drinking takes time, dulls the faculties, 
and lowers efficiency generally? Who is it who "busts out" 
of the University? Who is it who lives at the tutoring school 
during "Block Week"? Does drinking help a competitor? Does 
it stand to reason that a man running a competition will willingly 
intrust responsibility to one who cannot even control himself? 



I20 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 121 

Does an athletic coach prescribe alcohol? Does a business man 
advise his clerks to patronize the saloon? 

Drinking will not profit a man in the great mass of University 
activities. Of course it is almost a requirement for two or three 
clubs whose influence on their members is of questionable value, 
and it may be an aid in the rather turbid game of class politics. 
But for ninety-nine men out of a hundred it is a good thing to 
leave alone. 

Drinking is on the decrease at Cornell — which is a significant 
argument against it. According to a well-known professor, a 
graduate himself, and a man who keeps informed on undergrad- 
uate matters, there is only one-quarter of the drinking among 
Cornellians now that there was ten years ago. That is encourag- 
ing, but there is still too much. — Cornell Sim. 

ATHLETIC PATERNALISM 

Imitation is the sincerest kind of flattery. The University of 
Minnesota has been imitated a great many times and in a great 
many ways in the things that we have accomplished in the class- 
room and on the athletic field. We daresay this is all very nice. 
But now we have come across a thing which we could ourselves 
imitate with profit. Word comes from the University of Michigan 
that the paternal system of athletics is being started there. Each 
candidate for a varsity team takes a freshman in charge and 
trains him for the position he himself occupies. In this way, 
varsity men are training understudies to take their places when 
they step out. We are told that some sixty or seventy freshmen 
are this year receiving instruction as a result of this plan. 

The advantages of such a plan are at once apparent. Athletic 
teams will be self-perpetuating. Aspirants for varsity honors 
will have not only the benefit of training by hired coaches but 
will have also the specific training for a particular position that 
cannot but bring results. Michigan teams have always been 
famous for their prowess on the athletic fields. Minnesota teams 
have been no less famous. In our effort to maintain the high 
standards of athletic excellence which have been set in the past, 
therefore, we would do well to adopt some such plan as the 
paternal system and thus take a great step toward insuring our 
future athletic successes. — The Minnesota Daily. 



A NEW ESPRIT DE CORPS 

The musings recorded above on the duties of seniors toward 
freshmen have brought us face to face with one duty upon 
which we hesitate to speak ; not that it is not important, 
for it is, but because we ought to be farther removed in order 
to envisage it with appropriate emphasis and meaning. We refer 
to the duty of setting high intellectual standards, of creating 
if you please, an intellectual esprit de corps. For one of the 
things which the young and yielding mind needs to be shown, 
is how to do its work with a certain finish of completeness. It 
should learn to take pride in doing its work thus, and, if necessary, 
to make a defense for it and not feel abashed. It should learn 
early the joy which comes of mastery of its daily task and the 
divincness of such joy. It should learn to live in an intellectual 
atmosphere, and to find its recreations and its diversions in other 
sorts. 

Not alone the undeveloped mind needs an intellectual atmos- 
phere, but the maturer mind of the advancing student as well. 
It seems that as the student advances to sophomore, junior and 
senior, he should learn more and more to move out of his 
"outgrown shell" and to enter "more stately mansions" of higher 
being. Intellectual enthusiasms should be caught up, and every 
man should force as many intellectual situations for himself 
as he can. It is said of the German students that between 
classes they may be heard discussing Schiller's relation to Kant or 
the German drama's debt to Shakespeare. American students 
on the other hand, may be heard to enquire the latest ball-score 
or remark a recent caper of Mutt and Jeff. 

But to be specific ; it is conceivable that the future will evolve 
an Obcrlin student, who if he receives a grade of "C" when he 
is a sophomore, will receive a grade of "A" when he becomes a 
senior. Why? Because he has learned several things: he has 
learned things have permanent value, has discovered that the 
much is the worst enemy of the best, he has found the secret of 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 123 

attack, the way to think, the joy of creating, the art of expression, 
and a whole list of things he could not earlier know. 

At present however, there are probably many seniors who 
haven't learned to evaluate things correctly, who weight them- 
selves down with pressing and useless burdens, who know little the 
way of winding into an intellectual subject, or of extricating them- 
selves after once being in, and who are strangers to the English 
sentence. Intellectual enthusiasms, situations, curiosities will 
never denote them. They will never interest their friends with 
things so high and noble. 

When will these new things be? When a college, in the words 
of Newman, exists "for the perfection of the mind," when 
scholarship is ranked above popularity, when the younger rever- 
ence the older and the older are worthy of reverence because they 
have wrought well in the high field of the mind, when knowledge 
and not the pursuit of money becomes the goal of ambition. — = 
The Obcrlin Review. 



CONFESSING FAITHS 

Whatever ideals have been treasured, whatever dreams have 
been dreamed in behalf of the Michigan Union, were realized 
last night. If the Union has ever meant anything or if it is ever 
to mean anything, that was attained at the membershij) dinner. 
The ideal was realized when our President, an honored alumnus 
and a student, each in turn made a confession of faith. It was 
no ordinary gathering. Emotions of no ordinary intensity 
answered the behest of democracy. 

A president removed from his "boys" by arduous adminis- 
trative duties, embraced a golden opportunity and formulated, 
as never before, his ambitions, to an audience never more eager. 
An alumnus, who but seven years ago, was an undergraduate, 
harassed by the same doubts that confuse the present genera- 
tion, returned to taste the unbridled fellowshij) of the collegian, 
to receive a whole hearted, unstinted Michigan Union welcome. 

Rather is it a fact than a hope, that the Michigan Union is for 
"Michigan Men l-lverywhere." — The Michigan Daily. 



FINANCIAL EFFICIENCY 

To put the administration of class and college finances upon 
a business-like basis and to prevent the existence of "graft" in 
undergraduate public life, — this, in short, is the purpose of the 
proposed "Rules Governing Class and College Finances" which 
are printed in another column. These rules, of course, do not 
apply to athletic or other private organizations such as Cap and 
Bells and most of the publications. 

Both these objects are desirable, but, because an adequate 
system is lacking at the present time, neither are insured. The 
absence of a provision for auditing the accounts of government 
officials would be considered very unbusiness-like in the outside 
world ; and a college is in many respects a nation in miniature. It 
is almost superfluous to say that personal profits should not be 
gained through an office of public trust by corrupt methods, but — 
unfortunately this ideal situation does not exist in undergraduate 
life to-day. It is also true that certain positions require pecuniary 
recompense, but this must be a matter of public knowledge. 

In evolving the proposed system, primary consideration has 
been given to simplicity of construction and efficiency of machin- 
ery. Much time and labor has been spent in the preparation 
of the plan, and it is the result of detailed consideration. Dis- 
cussion of the various specific provisions may be of value. 

In the first article, provision is made for the concentration of 
responsibility for class and college funds. This requires more of 
the treasurers than has been expected of them in the past, but it 
puts the responsibility in its logical place. Sec. 3 provides for the 
pooling of all committee funds in case the present system of 
separate tax for each class affair is employed. It also permits 
the use of an annual budget system for all class expenditures. 

An auditing committee is constituted in the second article. 
For the sake of efficiency it is small, and for the sake of con- 
tinuity of policy and for the preservation of necessary records, 
it includes an alumnus in residence. 

124 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 125 

The duties of this committee are specified in detail in the third 
article. Appropriate dates have been selected for the auditing 
of college and class accounts. The senior treasurer will be a 
member of the freshman parade committee but as in the special 
cases following, he shall not be allowed to draw upon the fresh- 
man treasurer in case of a deficit without the approval of the 
auditing committee. Although the receipts for the sophomore 
prom do not come entirely from the sophomore class, this class 
is responsible for the management of the affair and should there- 
fore stand by it financially. The Gul. is a class publication and is 
not published by a private organization, — therefore precedent 
has decreed it is a subject for public legislation in contradistinc- 
tion with the other college publications. Its managers are entitled 
to some profit for their labor, if receipts can be made to exceed 
expenditures, but inasmuch as it is a public afifair, the class 
should be made partially responsible. It is difficult to provide 
satisfactorily for the Class Day committee, as its financial duties 
do not end until after the class has graduated, but the dictates 
of custom have been followed in regard to the Senior Banquet 
report, and it is merely to be hoped that the committee will con- 
sider it a duty to turn in their financial accounts for auditing, 
although no compulsion is possible. 

No power of enforcing the provisions of these rules is given 
to the auditing committee except the requirement that all illegali- 
ties be published, as provided in article four. No greater power 
is necessary, for if public opinion will permit irregularities, it 
would be difficult to eradicate them. 

Freshman caps have been considered separately, for this agency 
has been regarded in the past as a quasi-undergraduate scholar- 
ship. Profit in this case has formerly been great and it is the 
purpose of article five to make the profit a just compensation 
for the work required. 

It is to be hoped that this movement for financial reform in 
undergraduate circles will be taken up by the various private 
organizations wherever reform is necessary or desirable, and that 
the principle of just compensation for honest labor will be the 
ruling factor in dictating such reforms. Excessive returns in 
any managership post should not be tolerated, and as a general 



126 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

rule the greater the honor which a position offers the less should 
be the accompanying stipend. 

But all this is a matter of undergraduate concern, and any at- 
tempt on the part of the college administration or Faculty to 
control these matters without just cause should be viewed as a 
usurpation of undergraduate freedom. A large part of the value 
of student activities lies in their independence. Power over the 
purse, it has been said, is power over the will. Unless an efficient 
system like the one proposed be adopted, this control is none too 
remote a possibility. Not only should the college guard its fi- 
nances for control, — every undergraduate organization should 
render its finances so efficiently managed as to remove all ground 
for outside supervision, and to answer definitely the question 
of Faculty paternalism. — Williams Record. 



OUR ANSWER 

We are glad to see a defender of social clubs who will come 
out into the open. 

His point, briefly, is that we have no right to call these clubs 
snobbish. Briefly also, we answer that we have the right to call 
them and their members snobbish because we have to live with 
them, go to classes with them, sit with them at class functions, 
and associate with them on other occasions. We have to see 
two club members leave the men with whom they have come 
downtown and walk off together, with not the slightest invitation 
to the others to join them. We have to see them monopolize a 
table at a class banquet and say to others who start to sit at it, 
"This is a club table." 

One cannot avoid them entirely. In avoiding the club mem- 
bers as a whole, also, one is cut off from the friendship of the 
few individual members who are not snobbish. 

We should be interested to hear what a defender would say of 
the clubs' promotion of drinking, harm to athletes, and injury 
to scholarship. — Cornell Sun. 



THE VALUE OF TRADITION 

The principal lesson which every man must have derived from 
the speakers of Dartmouth Night, was the value of tradition to 
the College. The mass of tradition, handed down for nearly 
a century and a half, is enormous ; and it is, moreover, an advan- 
tage and inspiration to the alumni, who see in the College of the 
present, the customs which they recall from their own college 
days. 

Yet there are criteria of judgment even for such hallowed 
institutions, and these standards should be applied now and again 
to customs, lest habit, engendered by tradition, becomes merely 
a useless survival of primitive times. Without doubt, the first 
standard of tradition, and the one most commonly applied to it, 
is that of age. How long has this custom been in force? The 
greater the age the more respect it will acquire, since man be- 
lieves quite properly, that wrong will not persist for ages. 

The second standard is that of expediency. How does this tra- 
dition correlate with the life, habits, and conditions of the present, 
and does it serve the purpose for which it was founded? If it 
impede progress and hamper accomplishment, there seems no valid 
argument why it should not be cast aside to make way for new 
traditions which it is the privilege of each academic generation 
to inaugurate. The habits, dress, and mode of life of the pres- 
ent-day college, may become the sacred traditions of to-morrow, 
and therefore immediate action should be judged from the light 
of future tradition. 

The third standard is that of common sense. Has the custom 
been developed through rational process? If it is the outgrowth 
of some demand, the answer to some need in college life, it is 
amply justified, and by the standard just mentioned a new con- 
tingency may arise at any time which will justify a tradition to 
bind the future. 

These three standards of tradition should be applied to all the 
present-day problems which have come down to us in tradition. 



127 



128 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

All such problems as, for instance, the Sunday closure of the 
library, the sophomoric carelessness of dress, and compulsory 
chapel, in order to be justified, should endure at least two of these 
three tests. The Dartmouth withholds its judgment on these 
problems from the present discussion, and merely aims to arouse 
in the undergraduate a realization that even the most venerable 
tradition should be able to bear the pragmatic test; "Will it 
work ?" — The Dartmouth. 



TRADITIONS VS. INSTITUTIONS 

How often are traditions confused with institutions ! The 
regents pass a resolution establishing Convocation day as an 
institution and the campus promptly begins to talk about the new 
tradition. The student council authorizes the wearing of toques 
thereby creating a new institution, and immediately a so-called 
new "tradition" takes hold. 

There are great differences between traditions and institutions. 
Traditions are practices that grow up without legal restraint or 
regulation ; institutions are formulated by legally constituted 
bodies acting in their official capacities. — The Michigan Daily. 



FROM OUT THE EAST 

The refinement, the elegance and culture of the slogan adopted 
this year by the University of Illinois, "Hang It On Chicago," 
transcends all artistic imagination, and vainly do we seek for 
polite words and civil with which to give vent to our admiration 
for this show of academic cultivation. Well may we rough 
westerners fail to appreciate the delightful sentiment of the 
phrase, expressing as it does the high civilization of the recently- 
become-effete Illinois. When the light of learning reaches us. 
we, too, can dodge the provincialism of clean English and begin 
to "swat" our opponents and perhaps "hang it on 'em." — The 
Daily Calif ornian. 



"FOR THE NUMBERS CAME" 

Yale no longer reverberates with the blows of the iconoclast; 
the prophet of doom without salvation now raises his voice in 
vain. But it is not shattering the Idol of Democracy to suggest 
that Yale College might be improved by harboring fewer men. 
For whatever number entered, or tarried, there would still be 
equal opportunity; and even now not all that apply are admitted. 
Any restriction, or depletion of numbers, to be sure, would be a 
slap at the American precept of "quantity forever," and would be 
entirely original among American colleges. But thus Yale would 
be not only apart from, but also above, the others. 

Materially, a decrease in the number of men is not entirely im- 
perative, though it would permit the accommodation of all 
freshmen, as well as upperclassmen, in College dormitories. 
There would be a more adequate quantity of recitation halls, for 
the number of divisions in certain courses would fall. 

Thus the Faculty would be better able to give either individual 
instruction, or instruction to small groups. The number can be 
diminished, quite obviously, only by raising the standard of work 
required for entrance examinations or in courses. The higher 
standard would enforce an interest in intellectual work which 
the average undergraduate now lacks. It is always the bottom 
fifth that retards a class or a division; but with this fifth, for 
which lectures and recitations are levelled down, removed, there 
would be tremendous progress. Yale would be less an extra- 
curriculum, an athletic field, a social system, and more a place 
where minds can expand in the light of thought. 

The standard of work done now is above the average in other 
colleges. But in this country certainly there is a place for one 
college where even mere membership can be covered, as at 
West Point, because of the keenness of the mental atmosphere. 
Yale is fitted preeminently for holding such a position. The 
College, with its diversity of interests, could never be narrowed 
into a piece of flinty intellectual machinery. But it could serve 
the country best by turning out each year fifty less men than now, 

129 



130 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

provided those men were correspondingly better developed. It 
is a warped sense of duty that clamors for half-trained numbers : 
the truest growth is not in quantity, but in quality. — Yale News. 

A PLEA FOR GREATER STUDENT DEMOCRACY 

A freshman remarked last week that he finds it difficult to 
"get within speaking distance" of many of the men in the classes 
above him as he meets them on the campus. We have heard sim- 
ilar remarks often, all voicing the plaintive realization on the 
part of freshmen and others, that many students, especially of 
the upper classes, are "cold" and unresponsive as they meet their 
fellow students about the Hill. 

Are students too busy to greet one another, or are they, in many 
cases, held in unsociable silence by other restraining factors? 
The fact that many students are driven to the limit by pressing 
duties frCm morning till night undoubtedly robs some of their 
congeniality. But on the other hand, the University is not with- 
out its high-headed students who go about as though the campus 
had been especially reserved for them to display their self-con- 
scious superiority. Other students stand so blindly within the 
limits of their class or selected set that they will not lift their 
eyes to behold a few thousand students about them. 

Syracuse is too democratic in tone to tolerate the conventional 
prude. The society of the University is founded on a democratic 
basis. All are expected by custom to speak to one another re- 
gardless of class fraternal affiliations. Our University has too 
great a mission to allow its spirit to be swallowed up in unmerited 
conceit. 

The biggest man in College is after all the man who lives least 
to himself. It might be well to observe that the men in the 
University who are doing the biggest things are the men who make 
themselves most agreeable and sociable among their fellows. In 
fact no student can exercise a very great degree of influence or 
leadership unless he comes forth from himself and shares the 
feelings and activities of his fellow Syracusans. 

Let our students all conform to the fundamental character of 
this institution. Let no one fail to enhance the greater unity of 
spirit for which we are striving. Let us be more democratic. — 
The Syracuse Daily Orange. 



THE PRECEPTORIAL SYSTEM 

This is a day of radicalism. The zealot running at large, is 
breaking his images and idols in splendid iconoclastic fury, while 
the fanatic ''pours out the molten contempt of the sciolist upon all 
who would make haste slowly." "Whatever is, let's change it," 
is the first article of the creed of these dissenters. We hesitate 
to lay violent hands upon so reverend and venerable an institu- 
tion as the Princeton preceptorial system, and doubt, further- 
more, the editorial wisdom of the Princctonian as a panacea. 
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread," however. The man 
who wrote, "Home, Sweet Home," never had a home. So, why 
may we not mention Oxford? 

Most laudable in its raison d'etre, the system in its present 
state falls far short of its lofty ideals. Mr. George R. Parkin 
has said that such a system is "founded upon a true conception 
of education — a something that works through the intimate fric- 
tion of mind on mind; that it claims to work no miracles; that, 
at its worst, it is not more useless than other systems, but only 
more expensive ; that, at its best, it is, perhaps, somewhat richer 
in stimulus." At Princeton, evidently, the "friction of mind on 
mind" is prdducting a grating sound at present, and exasperates, 
frets, offends and irritates, the student who wishes to develop 
his little ego in a cosmos all his own — but, "his beautiful, 
expanding soul, untrammeled by the rule of three." must 
not be perturbed by the multiplication table or by geographic 
facts. Apparently, he must learn to spell as the bird learns 
to fly and sing; he must unconsciously absorb all learning as 
the lily drinks in the sunlight. Surely, it is excellent to know 
that alcohol is deleterious ; that cigarettes are to be regarded with 
antipathy ; and that the house-fly is a pernicious pedler of disease ; 
that Vulcan was a blacksmith and that Jupiter thundered from 
Olympus ; that certain Latin verbs govern the dative, while others 
are followed by the ablative ; that a corolla is made up of petals 
and a calyx of sepals ; but. do all these facts need to be flung at 
the "defenseless head of infancy"? Ah, yes, education is lit- 
erally being crammed into the gelatinous brain of youth. 

131 



132 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

Teachers and classes far exceed, in number, preceptors and 
preceptorials — a distinction without a difference, perhaps, who 
knows? The so-called "preceptorial system" was designed, pri- 
marily, to eliminate illegitimate cramming; yet, a casual survey 
of the next three weeks will prove conclusively that the Princeton 
offspring bears not even a family resemblance to the Oxonian 
parent. In America, it must be confessed, we study not subjects, 
but courses. Years are worried into the compass of a term ; vast 
institutions are pressed and mangled beyond recognition within 
the tattered covers of a textbook, written for schoolboys. 
"Cover the ground," is the slogan; "for our next meeting, read 
pages 243 to 295," is the goad. 

At Princeton, however, a distinction is, at last, being made 
between Honor work and Pass work — a move in the right di- 
rection and an extenuating circumstance of the preceptorial 
system. The new plan for final special honors is attempting to 
draw a hard and fast line between the two on the only valid 
basis of courses — not upon grades. It is being realized that a 
firm grasp of one subject possesses a higher educational value 
than a superficial knowledge of several. Mere accumulation of 
information is being subordinated to real training of the mind. 
Under the general plan, too, an effort is made to separate the 
sheep from the goats, to the advantage of both — that is, to 
place men of equal ability in the same preceptorial group ; thus, 
an incentive is given to the apt, a spur to the inapt. 

The new method of Honors work takes another long stride 
forward in substituting the Honors examination, covering two 
years' study, for the regular examination at the end of senior 
year, covering but a single term. It is the American adaption of 
the Oxford system, which does not permit a man to dispose of 
his work from term to vacation, and from vacation to term, 
but which compels him to carry it — and to carry it all — through 
intermediate and final examinations. For years, the Princeton 
Faculty appeared unable to grasp the fundamental and vital 
fact that the Oxford examinations in their extreme thorough- 
ness are inextricably bound up with the Oxford system, part 
and parcel. They attempted the impossible, in striving to make 
the Princeton preceptorial conform to the Oxonian model, with- 
out realizing that the final solution of the difficulties and dif- 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM i33 

ferences they sought to obviate was to be found in their 
examinations. 

A feature of the EngHsh university system is still being over- 
looked, although its importance makes it difficult to understand 
how such an oversight can exist. We refer to the very essence 
of the Oxford tutorial — essay work and the emphasis placed upon 
it. Like the better examples of the Princeton preceptorial, the 
main characteristic of the Oxonian tutorial is absolute infor- 
mality — a characteristic striven for in the belief that it promotes 
freedom and frankness of speech on the part of the student. 
Incidentally, it may be observed that there are those on both sides 
of the water who maintain that tobacco and congeniality cast 
serious reflections upon the dignity of the teacher and the man- 
ners of the pupil. Speaking generally, the English tutorial may 
be described as "a weekly interview lasting an hour — sometimes 
less, sometimes more — in which, first the student reads an essay 
on some prescribed subject and the student and tutor together 
discuss, not the essay merely, but the whole subject with which 
the essay deals." Plagiarism is not forbidden, simply ridiculed ; 
but, even the knowledge gained from plagiarism is preferable to 
comparative ignorance. 

At Princeton, in many instances a preceptor fills the function 
of a "coach" — to use the English term — and is nothing more or 
less than a private tutor. His ability and willingness to "hunch" 
the examination paper for his preceptees have come to be the 
criterion of his excellence. Yet, under the present system, an 
undergraduate not assigned to a preceptor of this sort is gener- 
ally compelled to learn in spite of the instruction he receives. 
Coufd not this condition be ameliorated by the incorporation of 
the English weekly essay in the course as a preceptorial require- 
ment? The superiority of written to oral work is established, 
beyond question, by the expressed satisfaction of the Faculty and 
by the implied knowledge accruing to the undergraduate. Under- 
lying the whole matter is the capability or the development of the 
capability, to express oneself. The more thorough knowledge of 
a subject possessed by those who tutor and publish syllabi attests 
unquestionably to the value of such training. — The Daily 
Princctonian. 



THE OUTER WORLD 

In the eyes of some, a University is a place of seclusion, where 
students hide themselves from the busy activity of the world and 
keep company with musty volumes and shades of the past. To 
others (and these be not few) the University represents a palace 
of hilarious enjoyment, where one continuous round of social 
functions, "scraps," and athletic extravagances give to a man 
that peculiar stamp which is denoted by bizarre apparel and a 
halo of tobacco-smoke. We seem doomed to be regarded by 
outsiders as devotees of the extreme, whether it be the sublime or 
the ridiculous. 

Yet this is not our ideal, as every college man knows, or should 
know. If there is one motto more than another, that should be 
emblazoned across our doors, it is the old Greek one — "Modera- 
tion in all things." Extremes, whether of work or of pleasure, 
are not for the true college man. Harmonious development is the 
cardinal aim in any university education. We do not wish to be 
lopsided, like a badly hung picture, but truly balanced, like a 
Greek vase. 

Knowing this, it should be our care not to shut our eyes to 
phases of experience beyond our present occupation. We must 
learn to see life clearly, and see it whole. Because we are at 
present engaged primarily in studying, in growing mentally by 
an inward process of expansion, let us not become oblivious to the 
throbbing life of action going on around us. Most of us will 
one day have to join this busy throng of the actively engaged. 
Now is the time to get the viewpoint of the man of affairs, to 
acquaint ourselves with the atmosphere, the requirements of the 
business world. There may be much in it that repels the man of 
studious tastes. Its apparent artificiality, its frequent crudities, 
its emphasis on the external and transitory — these may shock 
the wanderer in academic halls. But scorn and aloofness will 
never eradicate its blemishes. And. indeed, looked at from afar, 
these blemishes may seem magnified. The College man, if any, 
is the one who must carry the higher qualities into the business 

134 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 135 

world ; if business morale is to be raised, it is the graduates of 
our universities who must do it. To be a mediator between 
classes, a harmonizer of antagonisms, a missioner of the higher 
morality in every day affairs — this, in our modern world, is the 
highest calling of the college man. But it must be done from 
within, not from without. 

So — to point the moral before the homily waxes over tedious 
— let our undergraduates see as much as possible of the business 
world while at college, that, on graduation, they may not be 
plunged into an alien atmosphere, blinking like owls unaccustomed 
to the garish light of common day. Many are forced to do so 
from pecuniary necessity ; but the others should do so for reasons 
that are still more vital. — The Varsity, University of Toronto. 



FROM THE SPHINX 

Time : four years hence. 
Place : any city. 

The dialogue is between a graduate of any class now in 
College, and Humanity. 

Hum. Why did you go to Yale? 

Grad. To acquire the ideal of serving you, Humanity. 

Hum. Have you that ideal? 

Grad. Yes. 

Hum. Well, what else have you? How can you serve me? 

Grad. I have that ideal. — Yale News. 



IN MEMORIAM 

A man has gone from among us — a teacher and a friend. Few 
merit the titles he so nobly bore — those of the real scholar and 
true gentleman. Strong, sincere, zealous, analytic, democratic, 
a seeker after truth ; a Christian gentleman, he died as he had 
lived, a chevalier in the line of his endeavor, "sans peur et sans 
reproche." 

Requiescat in pace. — The Student, North Dakota. 



SOME TRITE COMMENTS ON COLLEGE IN GENERAL 

[Editor's Note. — Following was written in reply to a criti- 
cism of the American Colleges appearing in "The Unpopular 
Rcvic2i'."] 

"He tvho at college points his sneer, 
Proves that himself learned nothing there." 

The American colleges, like the students, should never be 
taken as a rule but as exceptions. Each individual institution 
has its own great, all-absorbing problems, that must be solved in 
relation to its own specific needs and requirements. Outside of 
the general abolition of all social societies perpetuated by distinct 
organizations, there is no reform that would be beneficial to every 
university. It is all very well to propose theoretically that the 
colleges allow the individuality of the student full play, but 
what can be done when the undergraduate refuses to display 
any individuality and insists on conforming to type? The ma- 
jority of college men the country over are practically the same. 
Topics of conversation, manners and modes of dress, are, in 
almost all cases, identical. The inflictions of the curriculum 
are viewed in the same light. To be a college man these days 
is to be a believer (true or professed — immaterial) in a rampant 
democracy ; to pursue acquaintances ad infinitum and to unfold 
the glories of the larynx rather than lay up treasures in the brain. 

The college man is not necessarily, like Abou Ben Adhem, the 
lover of his fellowman, but is the outsider in the case, who strikes 
up an acquaintance and then — passes judgment. The time that 
college men spend in discussing the virtues and vices of their 
fellows, would bring, if exchanged for that devoted to the cur- 
riculum, delight to every faculty. These impromptu debates di- 
vulge a king among men — a social success : he dresses well, makes 
a good appearance, preserves a rigid equanimity on all occasions, 
and never commits himself to an untoward deed or word, be- 
cause to avoid indiscretions his brain works with mummy-like 
agility. He has neither cardinal vices nor cardinal virtues, and 

136 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM i37 

derives his strength from the profound beHef of the crowd that 
reticence is an outward ^asible sign denoting great depth within. 
There is nothing to criticise in him ; socially he is the seeming 
paragon. 

On the other hand are the luckless unfortunates, who are 
so rashly importunate as to attempt to develop their own particular 
ego. Ten per cent gather acceptable egos and spring at once 
into positions of leadership. The other ninety per cent find 
that the respectable rank and file do not approve of their egos. 
The mysterious divinities that shape our falsely-standardized 
ends, the various social systems, are considered such worthy ob- 
jects of ambition even by the original, that the already accepted 
leaders alone, can afford to retain their individuality. The rest 
hear the call of standardization, try to conform, in most cases 
succeed only in becoming fair imitators of inferior models, and 
invariably receive extinction as social failures. The guilt of 
type should be laid at the door of the undergraduate social or- 
ganization, not of the college. 

It seems that the average college critic considers a definite 
conclusion a formality to be dispensed with. They all expect the 
colleges to turn out the perfect man, but none of them agree as 
to what parts this specific biped shall consist of. The all-around 
man is the usual perpetration. To be scholarly he needs solitude ; 
to acquire character he should mix in the rush of the world ; and so 
it goes, each contiguous angle disclosing a new requisite. The 
great power to which all undergraduates are alike subject is the 
social system. The men no longer mould, but are moulded by 
the various fraternities and clubs, whether national or local. 
Name and organization with their artificial standards have eclipsed 
the natural qualities they possessed when originated. When 
men have to strive for social distinction the submergence of their 
own personality is, to a certain extent, a necessity. Before the 
universities can develop individuality of thought among under- 
graduates, social clubs and fraternities to which it is an honor 
to belong will have to be eliminated. To preserve the inalienable 
right of friends to companionship, and at the same time to 
preclude the disadvantages of social ambition, the organic exist- 
ence of college social organizations should be terminated annually. 
But against all avowed principles, so great is the passion of the 
American people for social distinction, that no one college can 



138 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

afford to initiate a change in the social status quo. As at present 
constituted, the fraternity or club is the bug-bear of education. — 
The Daily Princctotiian. 

THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY 

Wherever two or three moderns arc gathered together, there is 
usually enough depression to satisfy Tragedy itself. Dismal 
wails and moans reverberate through Yale's entries so frequently 
that a stranger might think Byron or the Great Pessimist re- 
incarnated. If undergraduates were not really quite young and 
callow as Kotzebue, the tense despair, the theatrical despondency, 
the heroic solemnity with which some of them regard Yale, 
might lead them to be mistaken for shattered old men. But per- 
haps the solemn undergraduate is merely luxuriating in an ecstasy 
of woe. 

If he is not entirely pleased with Melancholy, this youthful 
disciple of frowns may have merely turned professional Yale 
critic. There are so many such critics that one wonders how 
the University, or the College, can survive another hour ! What 
heroism it is for them to brave the dangers of becoming cynics! 
There really is this danger. They must feel the tremulous thrills 
of the martyr : they are martyrs — in sacrificing the happiness of 
their youth. But of course there must be martyrs. Of course, 
some obstreperous children must be romantically despondent. And 
nearly everybody must despair of Yale (which has been running 
so infernally, so miserably these last two hundred and twelve 
years), and stop being cheerful. 

They had better be merry, for Yale is not going directly to 
Patagonia ; and undergraduates are not grizzled ancients. If they 
would stop gnawing their finger-nails over its faults — eternal 
worrying cannot make Yale perfect — and grasp its joys and 
precious bait, the Byronic gloom would vanish. 

A man may, of course, prefer to sit off in the corner, like a 
peevish child, and whimper about the sorrows of his surround- 
ings, rather than avail himself of the fascination of knowing 
books and men. But he misses the best things in Yale. No 
undergraduate with enthusiasm will remain a moping cynic when 
that knowledge of man and books — not to be had freely later — 
can give him four fascinating years. — Yale Nexvs. 



SOCIAL CLUBS 

It is with diffidence that we approach the subject of social 
clubs — aptly called "Cornell's un-Cornellian clubs." We had 
hoped that sentiment would have crystalized both within and 
without of them and that by this time their dissolution would 
have been accomplished. We were afraid at the time of the 
publication of the article in the Era in which their evils were 
brought to public notice, that further puljlicity in The Sun would 
be inopportune -and would retard rather than advance the cause. 
We hoped either that the men within the clubs themselves would 
look at the matter in an impartial light and would voluntarily 
disband, or that public sentiment would show itself so strongly 
that they would be forced to disband. Neither has happened. 

These clubs, especially Cimcx, Beth I'Amed, and Majura, are 
un-Cornellian. 

They are un-Cornellian and harmful in three great respects. 
First, they are undemocratic and snobbish. Second, they tend 
to promote drinking, especially among underclassmen. Third, 
they are a menace to scholarship. 

Taking up the first point, they tend to split each class, beginning 
even in the sophomore year. This is continued throughout the 
junior year, and, by the time the men are seniors, certain members 
of the class form a well-defined clique. This clique, this self- 
designated aristocracy in a democratic institution, puts itself up 
as the real elite of the University. Wiiile the clubs change from 
year to year, and some chapters are not obnoxious, snobbishness 
is fostered by them and will appear four times out of five. 

They are called "social" clubs. That they tend to promote 
drinking is shown !)y the fact that their meetings arc held in 
downtown cafes. Their sociability seems to consist in keeping 
themselves aloof from the common herd in the cafes after their 
meetings. What is worse is that underclassmen have the idea 
that to make one of them they must be seen as much as possible 
in these cafes. 

In scholarship, the matter gets down to where undergraduates 

139 



I40 CC)IJJ':(]I': JOURNALISM 

— and I'aciilty nu'iiiht-rs art- aj^faiii vitally interested. The drop- 
ping or puttinji^ on prohalion of a iinniher of our most promising 
athletes within the last year or two can he directly traced to these 
cluhs ; the men could carry athletics and legitimate activities, 
hnl they could not carry athletics and social excesses. 

In the s])ring of 1910, the Faculty formally aholished the 'Hiat 
cluhs." liy its action, Nalanda, the odd-year cluh, Mummy 
("Inh, till' even-year organization, .and Undine, the sophomore 
club whose memhers did not wear hats, ceased to have any official 
existence. Those cluhs do not exist to-day. But their ])laces are 
rilled i('s])C(livcly by Majura, I'clh TAmed, .and Cimex. In 
everything hut n.ame Nal.anda, Mummy Cluh, .and Undine exist 
now. Their ideals — or Lack of ideals — their m.ake-up, methods of 
I'icction, nunihcr of nicmhcrs, mcc-tings, poor scholarship, and 
snohhishness rem.ain. They merely do not wear TTehrew lettered 
h.ils in public .and have ch.anged their names, also in ])ul)lic. 

The h'.acidty, at lln' lime, after a thorough investigation with 
information both from undergraduates and graduate memhers 
.111(1 statistics of scholastic records of their members, voted that 
they be .abolished. They have revived. Their abuses again call 
for attention. This tinu' they should be .absolutely eradicated. — > 
Cornell Sun. 



AN "ll()Nh:ST-T( )-(;()!)" WIDOW 

Our compliments .and felicitations to the "Widow" on the 
occasion of her twentieth birthday. Under the painstaking 
Inlel.ige of liei- hosts of ailniirers, the "Widow" is now "some 
wren," and the Sun is i)rt)ud indeed of its little sister. To be 
sure, she is at times .a snippy young ])ersonage, much given to 
caustic words ;nid tart lem.arks, but her nndeni.able pench.ant 
th.at-.a-ways is to be .iscribed to the unthinking intoler.ance of 
youth and does not cause her elders much concern. We know 
th.al under her occasion.ally .assiuned mask of reptile criticas- 
terism there lies the warm heart .and the m.iiden tenderness. 
C'.anid.ieticallv speaking, her b.ark is worse than her bite. May 
she, ;is the trite old saying goes, live long .and happily and 
prosper. — ( 'onicll Snn. 



Till': modj<:rn mania 

If stuck with a pin, the undergrackmtc of three years ajj;o 
would have moved off, with the fervor and animation of a snail ; 
the modern undcrfj^rjuluate, similarly stuck, would jump and 
roar like a lion. Hence the modern [)in-sticking ailments and 
annoyances of Yale fall like sparks into gunpowder. And at once 
we have reformations, and counter reformations, with frenzied 
reformers. This is all perfectly delightful — save for slumherers. 
The reformer always has the joy of novelty ; and, if he he spec- 
tacular, the added joy of observing the shocked surprise that 
seizes so many faces. His way is blissfully easy, for the com- 
munity has come to expect considerable reforming; and will nf)t 
object to it, while the reform seems to accoiui)lisli more tiian the 
mere entertainment of the reformer. 

There is. of course, always a danger, to which Yale is now 
peculiarly prone, in any reforming for its own sake, where the 
agitators have no defniite goal. The minds of such men become 
so thoroughly saturated with the necessity of incessant changes, 
that they magnify the inevitable imperfections in our institu- 
tions, and imagine hideous horrors. Spectres begin stalking 
through Yale. Then the iconoclast ceases to remove the idols 
gently: he begins to go after them with hammer and tongs. And 
the community either laughs or weeps. Though Yale is prob- 
ably sounder now than ever before, many of the institutions 
doubtless need prodding. Some may possibly be drifting towards 
perdition so rapidly that we may even need to imjiort reformers. 
Who knows? 

But if (he institutions are at fault, the mending populace is, 
too. The T.ibrary is not entirely to blame, because people do not 
read. The critics of the social system, in any class, typically 
bewail hypocrisy and excessive abuse of activities. But wliero 
is the hypocrisy ; inside the system or out ? There is much too 
much trying to make all our institutions fool-proof. Some of 
the present reforming is doubtless beneficial. But however 
beneficial, the reformers might make sure that the trouble is not 
with themselves, in using magnifying glasses where tluv should 
use mirrors. — Yale Nczvs. 

141 



KEEPING OUT OF MISCHIEF 

A solemn senior told us unl)lushingly that certain manager- 
ships in Yale College were extremely heneficial "because they kept 
men out of mischief." Such a statement from a freshman would 
have been pathetic enough ; but from a senior, it must have 
touched and grieved even a stone. What could have inspired this 
naive nonsense of substituting drudgery for the devil, nobody 
knows. But, to apply it, managerships, of all things, are superbly 
ineffectual in keeping people out of trouble. Just because a man 
is busy, he will not become a saint : some of the busiest men in the 
world are the most abject scamps. Business has even driven men 
to drink. Thus, managerships might possibly send a man to 
perdition. But whatever spiritual stimulus they impart, all the 
managerships in Yale College could save only a few souls annually. 
And, unfortunately, of the few thus eligible for salvation, nearly 
all have already been saved. 

There are, of course, many other ways of keeping undergrad- 
uates out of mischief. The campus gates might be locked at ten 
each evening; and lights might be extinguished then. And 
during the day gangs of undergraduates might be organized to 
dig ditches down High Street. A few more managerships might 
bo created, with more bookkeeping, and more drudgery. Dwight 
Hall might have a few more laborious workers — just to be kept 
out of mischief. And if the College is so tremendously wicked 
that something formidable must be used to restrain it, we suggest 
that the convict ship Success be bought, and placed in the 
campus. What a splendid sense of responsibility could be devel- 
oped in the jailers ! 

The devil cannot be duped by drudgery. If an undergraduate 
is to be helped toward moral perfection, he must have some 
spiritual and intellectual aspiration, wherein his mind and soul 
are raised above the earthly mire. By engrafting his character 
upon ledgers, or even upon football fields, an undergraduate can 
achieve nothing but dire despair, and a place among the gloomy 
though "efficient." But a Yale undergraduate, alive to the joy 
of living, can find enough to keep him seraphically busy by extri- 
cating an intellect from Yale. — Yale News. 

142 



"MORE HONORED IN THE BREACH" 
Experience is certainly the mother of wisdom. Of individuals 
living at the same time, the oldest has, of course, a greater ex- 
perience than the young, and consequently greater wisdom. But 
among generations of men the reverse of this is true. The present 
generation is the wisest because it has received the fruits of the 
work of every preceding generation. That is to say metaphorically 
speaking, that Aristotle was a baby, Charlemagne a dapper youth, 
and the modern college man a Venerable Bede. Why not? A 
man should be fairly wise who could add the life of the race- 
about 5,846 plus 21 years— whose accumulated intelligence is 
part of his inheritance, to his own. Everyone should be satisfied 
then to admit that the college man of to-day is in a far better 
position to regulate his own affairs, than to be forever ruled 
by the customs of his ancestors. 

The graduates of Princeton, except those whom we have been 
fortunate enough to retain in the Faculty, have no influence upon 
our lives as undergraduates. Then why should we religiously 
cling to institutions which they left us as an inheritance without 
weighing them on the scales of reason? It is the same old story 
of the aggregate body of the living submissively submitting 
themselves to the everlasting dominion of the aggregate body of 

the dead. 

George Washington was a great man. Yet we do not wear 
short satin trousers and large buckled patent-leathers, or use 
powder and snuff, to prove it. No man has ever been more ad- 
mired than Thomas Jefferson. Yet we have seen fit to aljolish 
slavery, the institution that intimately affected his enviromnent 
through life. The history of the world is but a history of the 
revolutions and changes in thought and feeling. Eruptions are 
bound to occur from time to time, whether semi-animally as m 
the weather, every seven years as in the case of professors, or 
vernally as with asparagus. 

The Pr'mcctonian has never suggested a change in anythmg 
merely for the sake of change. Neither have our criticisms been 



143 



144 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

based on cynicism. We have believed, and believed firmly and 
sincerely after much thought, that every measure we have sug- 
gested would be for the best interest of Princeton. To be specific : 

For years men thought it equitable and just, a privilege in- 
herent in them as Princeton men, to sit promiscuously in anyone 
else^s lecture seat in order to save them a cut. The practice was 
eradicated ; an old Princeton custom fell. Men will in future con- 
sider this practice dishonorable. No one can possibly regret it, 
and yet the Princetonian was heartily abused and criticised at 
the time for weakening the Honor System, encroaching on the 
rights of Monitors, Professors, men's personal liberty, etc. 

It had long been a habit in Princeton to bedlamize the campus 
on Sunday afternoons over the visits of stray characters with 
uncertain reputations. The custom was abolished. No one 
henceforward will consider himself less a true Princeton man 
because he does not ring cow-bells on Sunday afternoons. 

The Princetonian last spring severely criticised the sectional 
clubs collectively. It just so happened that one or two of them 
had been doing something for Princeton. The Princetonian was 
at once accused of "going ofif half-cocked," of making statements 
without knowing facts. Out of it all a system has been evolved 
by which every Sectional Club will be of real service to Princeton. 
At present they are being thoroughly reorganized. 

The Princetonian urged the abolition of secrecy in the Halls. 
"Purely a destructive policy" was the prevalent comment. But 
the Princetonian urged and urges this measure for sound prac- 
tical reasons. The Halls have ceased to be the intellectual 
centres of Princeton they once were. At that time the secret dual- 
rival system was most successful. Owing to changed conditions, 
it is no longer of use. Then why not change it. Make one hall a 
debatmg society, a forum in which all undergraduates are free 
to discuss University and other questions, — a place where non- 
partisan organizations such as the Municipal and Law Clubs can 
hold meetings. Make the other the literary centre of the Uni- 
versity The spirit of literature has never been given a chance 
to make itself felt in Princeton. It has been lying dormant for a 
long time, but it is nevertheless here. Enthused with the vigor 
of a new generation, the halls would soon burst again into their 
pristine activity. 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM I45 

The Princetonian is heartily and sincerely opposed to "horsing." 
We believe that it is an institution detrimental to the progress of 
Princeton ; a process that is crushing the life out of the very thing 
that Princeton men ought to stand for — individuality. 

Of course we make mistakes. But even so, as Dr. Lyman Ab- 
bott said : "The mistakes that make us men, are better than the 
petty accuracies that keep us children." Our policy as pointed 
out in a communication yesterday has been inconsistent. Our 
Social system makes it imperative that freshmen and sophomores 
should not approach or even think of Prospect Avenue. But after 
all it is impossible to go through life w^ithout being accused of 
inconsistency by analytical and orthodox critics. Better to followr 
the advice of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes — "Don't be consistent, 
be simply true." 

The greatest possible good that the editorial columns of a col- 
lege paper can accomplish is to get the undergraduates to think for 
themselves. Therefore if certain existing conditions are con- 
sidered false, and it stands to reason that improvements in col- 
lege customs are as feasible as in anything else, it is perfectly 
justifiable to antagonize them. Naturally the shell of self-com- 
placency that hallows some individuals will be pricked, and the 
public peace will be disturbed to a certain extent. But too much 
public peace and thoughtless self-complacency have cast far 
stronger institutions than Princeton into oblivion. — The Daily 
Princetonian. 

QUERY 

In connection with training, there is a certain foolish custom 
in vogue among a certain class of athletes professional and 
amateur. That is at the close of a season to break training. 

Many are willing to live the strictest, straightest sort of 
life for six or eight weeks ; but when the direct cause is removed, 
drop it like a tough job. Results — when the next year comes 
round, it must all be done over again and from the bottom. 

If the training were kept up moderately during the intervening 
months, and the start made at the beginning of a new season on 
all that time of physical upbuilding, what then? — The Student, 
North Dakota. 



WAKE UP 

Although the University has opened with the largest enroll- 
ment in its history and the best football team that ever repre- 
sented a southern college, there is yet a surprising amount of 
indifference along all lines of college activities being shown by 
the bulk of the student body. The cheering has been discussed 
through the forum of this paper, and in assemblies on the 
campus, to such an extent that it will no doubt show considerable 
improvement in the game to come. 

But the most important organization on the campus — the 
Student's Association — is meeting with most discouraging lack 
of support. There are at present approximately eleven hundred 
students enrolled in all departments of the University. Less 
than a hundred and fifty joined the association. This surprising 
lack of support is not because the matter has not been properly 
presented to the students. Almost every man has been approached 
personally, and the others must surely have heard and read what 
the association stands for. 

Aside from all personal advantages which it oflfers to its mem- 
bers — for these advantages have been set forth time and time 
again — the Students' Association should be supported by the stu- 
dents because it is their association, if for no other reason. There 
is not a single man in the University, no matter how stinted his 
sense of patriotism, who does not believe that athletics and the 
three publications are good things. And yet there are only a 
hundred and fifty out of the eleven hundred who are willing 
to make any personal sacrifice for the support of these "good 
things." There may be some few who have excellent reasons 
for remaining outside the association, but for the most part it 
is merely total absence of college spirit. 

This furnishes an excellent basis for a general division of 
the student body into two classes, men and mollycoddles. 

On the one hand are those who do things— who, without 
any thought of monetary remuneration, spend all their spare 
time in working for Vanderbilt in some special line of work. 

146 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM i47 

While on tlie other hand are the moUycoddles — the fancy 
fellows — who have not time to do anything for Vanderbilt be- 
cause it is absolutely necessary that they adorn Fifth Avenue 
and Church Street every afternoon. It is, of course, impossible 
for them to spend any money for student publications or any- 
thing so trifling, because it is absolutely necessary that Gwendo- 
line must attend the next show, and before long another jewel 
must be added to the fraternity pin she is wearing. These 
mollycoddles are perfectly content to remain drones in the 
society of the campus and boast of being students in Vanderbilt 
University — as if they ever did anything in their lives to make 
Vanderbilt the great University that she is. 

Vanderbilt is a great University, because in the past her men 
have outnumbered her mollycoddles. She is great not because 
of her fancy fellows, but in spite of them, for the greatness of 
a University depends not upon the number of students but upon, 
their character. The situation this year is about the worst, 
looked at from any viewpoint, that has existed for many years. 
What is needed is a general awakening among the students to a 
realization that it is their unavoidable duty to support their 
own institutions. 

Are you a man or a mollycoddle? — The Vanderbilt Hustler. 

THE COLLEGE DRUNK 
College men, being thrown upon their own resources, have 
a chance to show either that they are able to take care of them- 
selves or that they ought to be kept at home, where they might 
have someone to take care of them. If any judgment can be 
formed from the various midnight carousings about the student 
district recently, there are a number of young men at the Uni- 
versity who have been sent out from their homes too early in life. 
These so-called "stew-parties" are not only injurious to the 
individuals who take part in them, but they disturb the community 
and disgrace the University in which they are held. They are 
not an indication of manliness, but of lack of will-power and 
judgment. Neither are they a part of the broadening education 
supposed to be furnished by colleges. A young man can learn 
to get drunk anywhere; it is a waste of time and money to come 
to college to learn it. — The Daily Illini. 



COLLEGE SPIRIT 

College Spirit, spelled with capitals and thought of as an in- 
tangible something greatly to be desired, is sometimes a curse. 
While we are seeking it so diligently we often lost sight of the 
fact that it ceases to be a virtue when improprieties and injust- 
ices can be committed under cover of its magic name. But leaving 
generalities aside, let's look the situation squarely in the face and 
find a few specific instances. Take the question of night-shirt 
parades. We have no objection to the parade. But when a reck- 
less gang of paraders make an exuberance of College Spirit their 
excuse for robbing, rioting and pillaging; when they make fools 
of themselves, and cast suspicion on their fellow students under 
the guise of institutional loyalty ; when they paint the town 
red in a misdirected attempt to display their college pride, — then, 
we say. College Spirit should have some of its intoxicating in- 
gredients extracted. 

College Spirit is a curse when it prompts a student to stoop to 
any dishonorable act in order to uphold the prestige of his 
school. To place money on a game because of a misconceived 
idea that loyalty to team and college demands it, is a fatal error 
common among college men. Gambling on the athletic contest, 
even when prompted by an overflow of zeal, is an evil just the 
same as the game of chance conducted in a dive or den. 

But it is a misconception of College Spirit that makes such 
unreasonable demands of the men wearing the institution's 
colors. Apply the test to athletics or what you will, College 
Spirit, truly interpreted, is just and sensible. The trouble is that 
"College Spirit" has become a mere catch phrase with which 
college students love to conjure. It is used as an excuse — an 
apology for something that has no right to exist. There IS 
a GENUINE College Spirit, — and it is a "consummation de- 
voutly to be wished." It means real loyalty, — not vandalism and 
roughneckism. Love of institution that prompts sane, benefi- 
cial activity — not rowdyism — is what the term comprehends. In 
its truest sense. College Spirit expresses all that college life 
means to us. It is a crystalization of the undercurrent of the 
institution. It is the moving force. — TJic Texan. 

148 



THE HOME STRETCH 

We are now on the home stretch of the year 1912-13. With 
some it is now a test to see whether the ever thinning trouser's 
seat will last until the end of school and we can get home. 
With others it is a test to see whether we can "stall the Prof, 
off" a little longer without letting him find out how little we know 
about his subject. And with still others it is a question as to 
whether that last ten dollars after deducting two dollars for 
R. R. fare, will carry us through. 

And what will these students do when at length the year is 
over and the final sprint finished? 

Ah ! Some will go home and mow the lawn between smokes, 
and next fall Dad will yield up a few hundred dollars to them be- 
cause they helped him so much during the summer. But for others 
it is a harder matter to spend the vacation. It is necessary for 
them to take get-rich-quick lessons from professional grafters 
so that they can bunco the farmer, and the unsuspecting house- 
wife with sure cures for corns on the ear, headache in the head 
and backache in the back — because money must be acquired 
during the summer by some means. 

How different is our view of life now from that we held when 
we used to chase around barefooted among the stubble, fighting 
bumble bees' nests with paddles for the honey that was to be had 
at the end of an hour's fight with the bumbling insects! How 
with great swelled places on our cheeks and on our bare legs we 
would tell our friends of the big fight with no less zeal than a 
Wellington would tell of his victory over Napoleon. 

But those days when our wardrobe consisted of a blue shirt 
and a pair of overalls are gone, and with it went the carefree 
attitude that hangs around the swimming pool and the trapeze 
out in the old apple tree. The college man begins to look upon 
the world with the thought that there is a hole in civilization that 
he must fill. 

The "Home Stretch" in college brings different visions to the 
home stretch of the school year when we were in the fourth 
grade. — University Daily Kansan. 

149 



PRIVATE READING 

It is commonly said that a man never knows when he has a 
good thing until he knows what it is to be without it; and 
it may be doubted whether many Hopkins undergraduates, who 
have never had a chance to know any but the Hopkins way of 
undergraduate instruction, really appreciate the value of the 
training they are getting. We generally think of Hopkins as a 
graduate institution, standing very near the top in a class of 
graduate schools which includes Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, 
Yale, the University of Chicago, and Leland Stanford, Jr., Uni- 
versity. We are not likely, as a rule, to rate its undergraduate 
department so high. We see that it is not one of the popular 
colleges of the country. No such throngs of students flock to it 
as to Princeton, Harvard, Yale, and Columbia, or even Dart- 
mouth, Amherst, and Virginia. But aside from the lack of 
patriotism evinced by such an attitude, we should not be so 
rash as to judge by appearances. If we turn over the leaves 
of the catalogue of collegiate instruction we shall notice one 
significant fact ; and in that one fact lies the whole secret of the 
Hopkins way of undergraduate teaching — in fifteen of the nine- 
teen departments of the University, undergraduate courses are 
given by the same men who direct graduate work. This fact, 
taken together with the small size of Hopkins classes, brings into 
undergraduate work at Hopkins a great amount of graduate 
method. We are not herded in droves of fifty or more into the 
classroom of some young instructor who hears lessons out of a 
textbook— a method which at other colleges is absolutely im- 
perative because of the number of students. Instead, we have an 
opportunity to come into personal contact with men of wide 
experience and acknowledged learning, who put us on the track 
of finding out things for ourselves. We may sometimes repine 
at the "tremendous" amount of private reading we are re- 
quested to do, but we cannot help seeing, if we think about the 
matter at all, that we are on the only royal road to knowledge 
and to the ability to acquire knowledge. Let us not chafe be- 

150 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 151 

neath our load of private reading; let us go at it keen with the 
desire of discovery. Let us rejoice that subservience to a text- 
book is not the Hopkins way. — The Nezvs Letter, Johns Hopkins 
University. 



A BARNYARD REGIME 

The hen that lays an egg a day will soon replace the eagle 
as the national bird, said the National Poultry, Eggs and Butter 
Association at its convention in Chicago a few days ago. 

Shades of our old speckled dominecker ! There has been a 
general tendency to adopt barnyard language into our slang 
vocabulary, but now a national convention of poultrymen is 
going to force the modest hen to assume that bow-legged militant 
attitude on top of a shield and flap her wings and cry, "E Pluri- 
bus Unum!" 

It was always hard enough on the eagle. Now that bird has 
gotten used to perching on top of flagpoles and eluding us on 
the back of silver coins, taunting us from the safe refuge of 
official seals, and screaming in an outrageous manner at safe 
and sane Fourth of July celebrations. It must be a sign of the 
times, the banishment of the lordly eagle and the crowning of 
the militant hen. 

It will be a strenuous life for the hen. That meek, contented 
chuckle, and joyous cackle of simple barnyard life must enlarge 
to hoarse croaks on ordinary occasions and real exuberant 
screams on the proper signal. She must cultivate a boldly ex- 
tended chest on which to bear a shield, and get her claws used to 
holding a sheaf of arrows and a tree branch. She might as well 
get an aeroplane, too, because the national bird has simply got to 
soar. Her husband, the rooster, must be content in the future to 
crow victoriously at election times and ever after hold his peace, 
while his mate shrilly announces from the peak of the Capitol 
dome, "suk-cuk-la-duckit." 

It will be just like the old rooster to start talking about the 
sphere of women. But wait! The eagle still reigns. The hen 
must first lay an Qgg a day. Maybe it will be a Missouri hen. — 
University Missonrian. 



THINK IT OVER 

In a sophmore's room the other day, a group of normal, 
healthy men were discussing the personality and ability of various 
other men, who, needless to add, were not present. All uncon- 
sciously they showed their ideas and ideals of college life. 

The name of Doe, a man who stands near the head of his 
class, was brought up. A big, tanned fellow quickly said : "Yes, 
he gets good marks, but I don't think he has much to him, he 
plugs for everything he gets." A chorus of approval showed that 
-everyone agreed. 

The talk went on and another man. Roe, became the object of 
comment. A junior added to the verbal bouquets by saying: 
''There's a smart fellow for you, he could pull straight A's if 
he would try." Some asked: "Has he ever got an A?" "Well, 
no, but he could if he wanted to." 

We think this typifies the general attitude. The able man 
doesn't work, he doesn't have to. Only dull and stupid people 
"grind," and they should be, and are, looked down upon. We 
well remember a truly brilliant member of last year's senior 
class who was so afraid that some one would catch him studying, 
and hence he would lose his reputation for getting results with- 
out effort, that he always had a popular magazine on his desk. 
When anyone opened the door, down went Horace or Plato on 
the floor, and the visitor would find our Phi Beta Kappa man 
immersed in a story by Oppenheim and would go on his way 
marveling. 

We expect persistency and work from the men who try for 
our teams, and pour the vials of our wrath on the sprinter who 
will not sprint. But we glorify the student who will not study 
and very, very often, we are apt to regard the fact that a man 
doesn't study as proof positive that he is a student. Do we 
not realize that nothing worthy of mention can be accomplished 
without hard, disagreeable toil? We should judge by efforts and 
results, not by real or fancied potentialities. By our present 
attitude we are encouraging superficiality in work, confirming 

T52 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 153 

loafers in their laziness, and deterring men from study. Can true 
scholarship thrive in such an atmosphere, and is not the fore- 
most purpose of the college to turn out scholars? — The Bowdoin 
Orient. 

WHAT IS AN AMATEUR? 

What is an amateur athlete? Listen, and you shall hear. 
He is one who has never used his athletic skill for gain. He 
is one who has never played baseball for money. He is one 
who has never played against professionals in a game where 
admission was charged, nor where any part of the proceeds was 
distributed among the members of the teams. The amateur 
athlete has never received compensation for teaching another 
athlete how to win points. Nor has he ever participated in a 
Sunday-school picnic race where more than a box of candy was 
offered as a prize. He has never won a prize pig at a corn plow- 
ing contest nor has he ever been proclaimed champion at a pie- 
eating match. He has never tossed nickles at a crack. The 
amateur athlete has never either matched pennies or played 
marbles for keeps. What is an amateur athlete? He is a 
nonentity. — The Minnesota Daily. 

THE TATTERED ARISTOCRACY 

The type of decadent gentleman who rides under a Pullman 
is quite bewitching. His carefree air, his patches and nonchal- 
ance, have often magnetized the pockets of even the shrewdest 
undergraduate. He never seems to beg, but rather to grant a 
favor in condescending to receive a gift. Far above the common 
drudge, he is, indeed, the complete aristocrat, who roams the 
country, seeking crusty pleasure anywhere. 

The undergraduate, unused to "quality," is greatly at a disad- 
vantage in dealing with such personages. They always accept his 
boons ; but instead of appeasing hunger with them, these fallen 
aristocrats — quench their thirst! Of this neither the Yale Hope 
Mission nor society at large can approve. 

If the undergraduate must bow before these frayed barons. 
he can either give them tickets for profitable entertainment at 
the Mission, or he can buy them a harmless dinner at a lunch 
counter. — Vale Xe^K's. 



NEWSPAPER EDITORIALS 

There are certain newspapers which have always maintained 
a reputation for the cleverness and style of their editorials. The 
four reprinted below are taken from some of the best-known 
papers and may be accepted as models of clear, accurate writing: 

General William F. Bartlett 

The Massachusetts of this generation has bred no so heroic 
a character as that of the man Vk^hom she will bury, with sadness 
and with honor, in Berkshire this week. He left Harvard Col- 
lege to enlist at the breaking out of the war, and served till the 
end. He was wounded many times, lost a leg, endured extreme 
hardships in Southern prisons, and was a sufferer from his in- 
juries during all his remaining years. His later life was spent in 
private business. With no ambition and no pretense as an orator 
or public leader, hardly any man in these last years has oftener or 
better said the timely word, and turned men's thoughts from party 
passions and personal advantage in politics to higher things both 
in thought and effort. His eloquence was the eloquence of 
simplicity, earnestness, and brevity. His speeches, at the dedica- 
tion of the Harvard Memorial Hall, at the Lexington Centen- 
nial, and on other occasions, all bore one spirit, they all sought 
one end — that of burial of the conflicts of the war in a common 
national feeling. At Lexington he said: "Men cannot always 
choose the right course ; but when, having chosen that which con- 
science dictates, they are ready to die for it, if they justify not 
their cause, they at least ennoble themselves; and the men who 
for conscience's sake fought against their government .at Gettys- 
burg ought easily to be forgiven by the sons of the men who for 
conscience's sake fought their government at Bunker's Hill." 
He held himself aloof from party bounds, and parties competed 
for the honor of his name. This is the outline of a life so far as 
it appeared to the public. But it was noble and heroic in private, 
and the sweetness that goes with all true nobility and heroism 
was as divine a characteristic of General Bartlett's nature. He 

154 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 155 

faced ihe slow, sure approach of death as bravely and as calmly 
as he moved to the front in battle, or denounced a mean thought 
or unworthy action in public life. We talk with a glow of Cheva- 
lier Bayard and Sir Philip Sydney; but here, in Frank Bartlett, 
was all they were and more — what they could not be, because the 
standards of the age did not suggest it all. A republic based on 
the equality of men, and society that recognizes women not simply 
as an object of gallantry, but the companion-leader of all life, 
give a finer quality and a more even edge to our Bayards and our 

Sydneys General Bartlett's fortune was his character, his 

family, and his friends. The one is clear and unspotted; the 
next, a beautiful wife and five young children — the youngest 
of whom, a babe, was baptized, as it were in his dying arms, but 
a few days ago, while he partook of the last sacrament, and him- 
self sang the sacramental hymn with a voice as clear and ringing 
as that with which he ever called his soldiers to battle; and his 
friends include everybody who ever knew him. — Samuel 
Bowles, Springfield (Mass.) Republican. 

Is There a Santa Claus ? « 

We take pleasure in answering at once and thus prominently 
the communication below, expressing at the same time our great 
gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the 
friends of the Sun: 

"Dear Editor : — I am eight years old. Some of my little friends 
say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says 'if you see it in The 
Sun it's so.' Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus? 

"VlRGINL\ O'HaNLON" 

"115 West Ninety-fifth Street." 

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been 
affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe 
except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not 
comprehensible by their little minds. All minds. Virginia, 
whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great 
universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant. in his intellect, 
as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured 



156 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and 
knowledge. 

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly 
as love and generosity and devotion exists, and you know that 
they abound and give to our life its highest beauty and joy. 
Alas ! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa 
Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There 
would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance, to make 
tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except 
in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills 
the world would be extinguished. 

Not believe in Santa Claus ! You might as well not believe 
in fairies ! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in 
all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but 
even if they did not see Santa Clause coming down, what would 
that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign 
that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the 
world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you 
ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's 
no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or im- 
agine all the v/onders there are unseen and unseeable in the 
world. 

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the 
noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which 
not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the 
strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, 
poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view 
and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real ? 
Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and 
abiding. 

No Santa Claus ! Thank God ! he lives, and he lives forever. 
A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay ten times ten thou- 
sand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart 
of childhood. — Charles A. Dana, New York Sun. 

The AristocraGy of Brains and Character 

When these poor butterflies have shed their gilded wings and 
are forgotten as worms, or the food of worms, the world will 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 157 

continue to bow in reverence and honor to the nobler souls who 
have refused to be swerved by pomp and luxury from the ideals 
of a success which is unrelated to money. It will remember 
Agassiz, who refused to lecture at five hundred a night because 
he was "too busy to make money." It will remember Charles 
Sumner, who would not lecture at any price because, "as sena- 
tor all his time belonged to Massachusetts." It will remember 
Charles Spurgeon, who was invited to come to America for fifty 
lectures at one thousand dollars each, but said in answer: "No, 
I will do better, I will stay in London, and try to save fifty souls." 
It will remember Emerson, who steadfastly declined to increase 
his income beyond twelve hundred dollars, "because he wanted 
time to think." 

And not only in time past, but in the living present there are 
brave, strong men who are making history and building honor 
upon a better base than money. Who is the most distinguished 
figure in the American Senate to-day? Not Clark of Montana, 
with his piling millions, nor Stewart, of Nevada, but George 
Frisbie Hoar, serene and noble idealist of Massachusetts, who 
lives in a cottage at Worcester on three thousand a year, and does 
not even keep a carriage. What noisy nabob has such genuine 
distinction as old Joe W^heeler, patrician of Alabama, hero of 
two republics and gentleman of honor, living on his pension and 
loyal to his ideals? 

And there is William D. Howells, whose standards, nobly and 
unselfishly maintained, have won him fame and later fortune. 
And St. Gaudens, the sculptor, working with a faith unspoiled by 
money, carving calmly for the approval of the coming centuries. 
And Elihu Vedder, in plain lodgings in Rome, laughing to scorn 
the American money that would tempt him from his beloved 
art to garish and profitable advertisement. And Thomas Edison, 
who would scorn to be ranked for the millions which he spends 
fearlessly and unsparingly for other inventions and discoveries for 
the advancement of the race. And President Eliot of Harvard, 
and Presidents Pratt of Chicago, and Butler of Columbia, each 
with superb administrative talents that might win millions, 
living on moderate incomes to the great end of service and achieve- 
ment in the lives of the Rcjjublic's youth. And there is Dr. 



158 COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

Rainsford, the New York clergyman, who might have been not 
only a captain, but a general of industry, holding without wealth, 
a personal power over the most distinguished men of the world, 
with Pierpont Morgan and Mayor McClellan passing the plate 
in his church, and living the splendid ideals which he eloquently 
preaches. And Mansfield and Irving, be it said to their infinite 
credit, might have been vastly rich to-day if they had not heroi- 
cally poured their earnings upon the altar of a higher art and a 
better stage. Who can doubt that Theodore Roosevelt, if he had 
bowed himself to gain, might have amassed enormous wealth? 
Yet he has stubbornly followed another and nobler ideal of suc- 
cess that his private fortune to-day is less than eight thousand 
dollars. And William Travers Jerome, whose daily opportunities 
have been one continuous invitation to be rich, but who has 
bravely chosen to be a clean and brave and honest reformer at 
the expense of fortune. 

Let no man think that these lines depreciate money nor the 
independence and liberty wTiich comes from easy means. 

But let no youth of these striving times imagine that money 
alone brings permanent honor or enduring happiness. 

If the modern aristocracy of wealth refuses social recognition 
to the really great, unless the great be also rich, be sure there is 
a nobler aristocracy of brain and character without blazonry which 
despises the foolish standards of the poorly rich. 

There is a mighty cloud of witnesses that the nobler idealism 
is not dead in this republic of the free. — John Temple Graves, 
in the Atlantic Neivs. 



To Editorial Writers — Adopt Ruskin's Main Idea 

"His pen is rust, his bones are dust (or soon zvill be), his 
soul is with the saints, we trust/' 

Ruskin is to be buried in Westminster Abbey. It is a fine 
home for a dead man, with Chatham and his great son Pitt in 
one tomb, and the other great skeletons of a great race molder- 
ing side by side so neighborly. 

The death of a wolf means a meal for the other wolves. The 
death of a great man means a meal — mental instead of physical — 



COLLEGE JOURNALISM 159 

for those left behind. Wolves feed their stomachs — we feed our 
brains — on the dead. 

There is many a meal for the hungry brain in Ruskin's re- 
mains. We offer now a light breakfast to that galaxy of Amer- 
ican talent called "editorial writers." 

Editorial writing may be defined in general as "the art of say- 
ing in a commonplace and inoffensive way what everybody knew 
long ago." There are a great many competent editorial writers, 
and the bittern carrying on his trade by the side of some swamp 
is about as influential as ten ordinary editorial writers rolled 
into one. 

Why is it that we are so worthless, O editorial writers? Why 
do we produce such feeble results ? Why do we talk daily through 
our newspapers to ten millions of people and yet have not in- 
fluence to elect a dog catcher? 

Simply because we want to sound wise, when it is impossible. 
Simply because we are foolish enough to think that common- 
places passed through our commonplace minds acquire some new 
value. We start off with a wrong notion. We think that we are 
going to lead, that we are going to remedy, that we are going to 
do the public thinking for the public. 

Sad nonsense. The best that the best editorial writer can 
achieve is to make the reader think for himself. At this point 
we ask our fellow editorial men — our superiors, of course — to 
adopt Ruskin's idea of a useful writer. 

In a letter to Mrs. Carlyle, written when he was a young man, 
he outlined the purpose which he carried out. and which ex- 
plains his usefulness to his fellow-men : 

"I have a great hope of disturbing the public peace in various 
directions." 

This was his way of saying that he hoped to stir up dissatis- 
faction, to provoke irritation, impatience and a determination to 
do better among the unfortunate. He did good, because he 
awoke thought in thousands of others, in millions of others. 

Editorial writers, don't you know that stirring up dissatisfac- 
tion is the great work you can do? 

Tell the poor man ten thousand times : 

"There is no reason why you should be overworked. There is 



i6o COLLEGE JOURNALISM 

no reason why your children should be half-fed and half-edu- 
cated. There is no reason why you should sweat to fatten 
others." 

Tell them this often enough, stir up their determination suffi- 
ciently — they will fmd their own remedies. 

If you want to drive out the handful of organized rogues that 
control politics and traffic in votes, don't talk smooth platitudes. 
'J'ell the people over and over again that the thieves are thieves, 
that they should be in jail, that honest government would mean 
happier citizens, that the individual citizen is responsible. Keep 
at it, and the county will be made better by those who alone can 
make it better — the people. — Hearst Newspapers, Arthur Bris- 
bane, Editor-in-Chief. 



